This is an updated reprint of a Thanksgiving post from a few years back. The theme is gratitude, and that never gets old. Do you remember that scene in Out of Africa when Meryl Streep, playing Karen Blixin (later known by her nom de plume Isak Dinesen) was hosting Robert Redford and Michael Kitchen on … Continue reading Making Up Stories: my spiritual practice
Written with my Thursday night writing group with the prompts: beautiful Melvina, giggles again, untethered soul, gardenias in hair, watching cartoons, unremarkable bone, human life will flicker out, when I think of returning to my mother, when I look in my mother’s eyes, quirky details, go ahead and pat me down, she sort of smiled, … Continue reading Beautiful Melvina
Nothing Halfway Written with my Thursday group with the prompts: overmedicated, turkey, she shook her head, walk, boring little houses, ice breaker, on top of a picnic table, Monday morning, Happy Donuts, I got angry, he had a hand on her shoulder When Mandy regained consciousness, she was already walking. Disoriented, wandering in fog—except it … Continue reading Nothing Halfway
This is a reprint of another Halloween favorite. Enjoy! Pearl became a crone gradually. It started when she shed her pastel, party-mint-colored clothes, the pinks, the baby blues and pale yellows. Suddenly she found herself attracted to burgundy, teal, and aubergine. She stopped dyeing her hair yellow blond, gave up the tinted contacts, the high … Continue reading Becoming a Crone
Written with the prompts: springtime, accepting limits but pushing for more, wonder about the ivy, there is always a little girl standing in the corner just staring, Maddie in the grip Maddie is in the grip of a good story, her pale face illuminated by the blue light of her Kindle. It is winter inside … Continue reading In The Grip
There was already a voice in Jessamyn’s head when the beacon hit her eyes. It told her a story about a serpent of light coiled around the hard ridges of her face—her right cheekbone, right eye, her tight angular jaw. It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun, the voice said, and Jessamyn almost … Continue reading The Voice
Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: Therese is gone, those people, toe the line, flourish, she could see the person she was, her mother didn’t like her, so what’s another inch, ketchup soup, sit in meditation Now that Therese was gone, Maricela could see more clearly the person that she was. Rumor … Continue reading Florita
Mama’s family never could afford to send her to college. From as far back as I can remember, she promised it would be different for me. “You are smart and you are beautiful,” she’d tell me. “You are going to go far.” Of course I believed her. Why wouldn’t I? I didn’t know it cost … Continue reading Manna
Never Be Robbie Written with my Thursday night writing group with the prompts: he died ten years ago, I just want to win something, surrounded by her men, don’t get up stay there, many ways to escape, to this day, pictures of last Christmas, the look of panic was still present in her eyes, it … Continue reading Never Be Robbie
Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: notice what you notice, wait I said, green and blue tapestry, the only rule is there are no rules, I am from, agreement, cat, have you ever lost a shoe, cinnamon, give, how old was I, rushed back to aloneness I am from a medium sized … Continue reading Beaded Purse
