In the calm, crisp, post-first snowfall air of a rose-tinted autumn evening, after the day’s sun has melted most of the snow away, the river’s surface is so still when reflecting the trees’ bronze-patinaed foliage you’d almost think it was … Continue reading Glass
Just in time for Halloween, I have a horrifying tale straight from my car, and it isn’t the fact that my mechanic discovered my ’08 Cobalt had its original struts. I was in Iowa for most of September, and in … Continue reading The Smell
Evening was settling over town in the way a blanket thrown over a bed slowly settles over it – softly, and with a few wrinkles of sunlight. I had run to my car for some things I’d forgotten and when … Continue reading Bare Bulb
I have another practice poem this week. This one was written before last week’s poem, but it was more difficult to write. It came in bits and pieces over the course of a week, then had to be set aside … Continue reading Poetry Practice #2
Today, I wrote most of a poem while sitting in the laundromat. Continue reading Poetry Practice
I went for a walk in a field one day in June, and there I found the insects performing one of their duties to nature. They were seeking out the flowers, islands of color in a mostly green sea, and … Continue reading One Day In June
This past summer my husband’s D&D group started a new campaign, and one day he sent me an Amazon link. It led to this: An over-the-head penguin mask. My husband can be a living non sequitur sometimes, so I had to stop for a moment and think hard about why he would send me this horrifying and tacky item out of the blue. Then I remembered that his character for the new campaign was a penguin. I bought it for him, and I got to the page where Amazon shows you a list of things that other people who’ve looked … Continue reading Combating Stereotypes Courtesy of a (Terrifying) Penguin Mask
If the world stopped right now – zombies, natural disaster, disease – and, as is likely to happen, you become one of hundreds of millions to quickly vanish in the ensuing panic, what would the few lucky survivors find in your home as they scavenge for supplies? What could they eat? What clothing is left behind? Are there any first aid supplies? Would your home be a safe place for them to stay? Is it defensible? If this hypothetical survivor is contemplative – which could be dangerous in a world where paying attention is likely the difference between life and … Continue reading I Don’t Survive the Apocalypse
I spent a good deal of this past weekend frustrated. It wasn’t “ruin-the-weekend” frustrated; more like “life’s-little-annoyances” frustrated. I had three distinct frustrating events, each eliciting drastically different feelings that all still somehow could be described as “frustrating”. The first frustrating experience of my weekend involved chocolate chip cookies. That’s right, chocolate chip cookies. Strap into your spaceship chair, close your eyes, and clench your butt muscles in preparation for warp speed, because we are heading for the Worm Hole of Serious Conversation. I am not an excellent cook or baker by any means, but given a recipe, a kitchen, … Continue reading Frustrated
My window is a black rectangle at night. When sitting on the couch the angle is enough to hide the lights of the town below, and only the cell towers lazily blinking – three red points, two white – on the distant hills that pass for river bluffs in this part of the world are visible. When the night is overcast, these towers serve as poor substitutes for stars. Persistent flashes of bright white light observed from the corner of my eye distract me from the television. There it is again, and again. Lightning, nature’s strobe light. A storm system … Continue reading A Storm Passes South
Staring Out A Window 