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
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 writing group with the prompts: don’t go there, quiet enough to hear your own heart beat, everybody knows your name, startling, witch, had to make it across the street, from there I was sent to another small room, hung up when she heard my voice, dismiss, okay kids time for … Continue reading Notice What You Notice
This is a poem I wrote a few years back for my mother and her sisters. It's a bit of a ramble, but they all seemed to like it. My aunt Eleanore had a muskrat fur coat. My aunt Ruth had a skirt that revealed her knees. She wore it with platform shoes. They went … Continue reading The Flint Girls Go To A Fire
If you and your loved ones are safe and healthy this year, then you have reason to be thankful. Please do all you can to stay that way! The safest thing to do this holiday season is to celebrate with your own household members, and greet the rest of your family and friends via phone call … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving Week!
Greetings to everyone who is sheltering in place as I am. How are you? I am fine. There are many things we could complain about—and if that’s what you want to do, go ahead and vent in the comments section. I personally have little to grouse about these days. I am retired so I don’t … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place, part 2
I wrote and published this piece six years ago, shortly after the death of a close friend. I came across it this week, and honestly, I'd forgotten that I wrote this as a Christmas meditation. The idea of surprise is becoming a theme for me this December. Life deals us all some pretty unpleasant surprises … Continue reading Loving Harvey: some Christmas musings
Warning: spoilers ahead. I’ll wave a red flag when we get close, but stay alert. This book made me very sad. I don’t know why I’m surprised, it’s right there in the tittle. It’s not that I can’t handle sad—I mean, I’ve never missed an episode ofThis Is Us. But this book made me feel sad … Continue reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (a book review)
