Today's story is one I wrote several years ago. It arose from a vision, almost a dream. Now I feel the time is right for this kind of energy, a balancing if you will, a healing that will come from action. I affirm we are a compassionate people, and we are gentle with each other. … Continue reading Predator Heart
Amanda lost her keys on the way home from the protest march and was locked out of the house for three days. Luckily she had a satchel filled with peanut butter sandwiches and peaches so she didn’t get hungry, and a backpack filled with paint supplies so she didn’t get bored. She and Alvin had spent … Continue reading New Color
Give me a moment, in this mouse of a day, such a tiny bit of daylight left. I can barely muzzle my frustrations before it’s midnight again. For hours the children’s faces have been swollen with mumps or malaria. Or maybe it’s measles. We can’t be sure, but we must keep moving if we hope to reach the … Continue reading Teach me to endure/Teach me to fly
Unripe berriescluster on the vine.One is dark, but not dark enough,a pinot, not a cab.The others look creamywhite turning pale yellowa few tinged pink like a peace rose, my favorite:they used to bloomin my mother’s garden.As a child, I was amazedhow soft yellowwould yield to pink,not a transition a colorwheel might predict.Yet everything everywhere is … Continue reading Everything
Break My HeartWritten with the prompts: beware, you are bound for a heartache, break my heart buttercup, clutter, dancing fingers stole that away, extra spice, find one you do like, it takes money, leave home, not isolated, once you were only in my dreams, sweet, the trail wasn’t easy, wine dark sea, wind keeps blowing … Continue reading Break My Heart
Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: where did you live? Love, Kennedy to Heathrow, living is a limited-time opportunity, only drowning men can see him, on the way to the funeral, he hadn’t seen her since high school graduation, there are children in the morning, in the midst of all the recklessness, please … Continue reading Seeker
I see a kildeer couple on the lower levee this morning loitering on an inhospitable edge of hard pan, a track of decomposed granite and gravel, racing back and forth on their long skinny legs, looking agitated and vigilant as a hiker approaches. One takes flight, sounding it’s shrill two-syllable alarm, its long wings pitched up … Continue reading Kildeer
There were only two prompts for today's piece: "the woods are lovely, dark and deep" (a line from Robert Frost's Stopping byWoods on a Snowy Evening) and "Things Change, Even Now." I'm calling this flash fiction even though it's based on actual events because I took license with a lot of details, so don't tell … Continue reading Dark and Deep
Annika, the Shoemaker’s Daughter Written with my Thursday writing group with the prompts: forbidden, midafternoon stop and go pattern, cracking into the present, escaping into the future, stared and waved, towels dropped over her, cheese paddle, song, shoemaker’s daughter, she was a cheap exhibitionist, with the sun in her eyes, if you want to learn the … Continue reading Annika, the Shoemaker’s Daughter
Because April is National Poetry Month, I’ve decided to share with you some ekphrastic poems I’ve written this past year. Ekphrastic poems are written about works of art, most often visual art like paintings and sculpture, but they may be about a performance piece like dancing, acting, or film. This poem reflects on a lovely … Continue reading Rivers, inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s Chama River, Ghost Ranch 1937
