On our first trip to Europe, some of us fell in love with Paris: the art, the architecture, the tiny cafes where you could sit drinking coffee and eating bread and cheese all afternoon. Lillian took up smoking short brown cigarettes and spent hours jotting in her journal. Petra teased that Lillian was talking on a Gertrude Stein … Continue reading We Are Older Now
Written with the prompts: pull, how would you. . ., not sadness, more like frustration, tired of red, scent of lavender and stone, it was practice, by their silence, the past simply wasn’t there, start earlier in the morning, being happy is difficult, rug burns on your knees Marianne woke up and the past simply … Continue reading When the Past Isn’t There
Jason came up out of the subway on Tuesday when there was a break in the storm to busk in the space between the Dunkin’ Donuts and the bus stop. He came equipped with a borrowed guitar, his own harmonica, and a smashed brown fedora he’d owned for decades. He called it his magic hat: … Continue reading Morning Song
Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: he had given up speaking to anyone but Molly, confidant and clown, double orange doors, Blue Planet, need a plan, must have a goal, always cleaned up behind himself, pillow confessions Tim had given up speaking to anyone but Molly a long time ago. Thanks to … Continue reading Fade to Blue
Joey picked up the coffee mug with both hands and took a cautious sip of the hot liquid. It was early spring 1999. He sat in the lobby of his father’s office building, looking out a wall of gleaming glass windows, staring at white blossoms from almond trees drifting down to the concrete like snow … Continue reading Hot Tea
Vivica and Nora from Next Door Written with my Thursday group with the prompts: well then, a most sarcastic talking man, coal and a thousand colored pencils, she was starving herself, days without mail, she was a spoiled child, worried, Vaseline on the mirror, status quo, remembering her roots, hostility with dignity and love, my own … Continue reading Vivica and Nora from Next Door
Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: first days at school, Fred said, not in the forest anymore, jitterbugging encouraged, sometimes it feels good to take the long way, she described our story, I love our deck, winter, shared experiences, aura of purple, for the gate, hair love or hare love, her creative brain … Continue reading The Deck
Written with my Thursday night writing group with the prompts: empty journal, her lips tasted like wine, no one ever noticed her, she was just there, 16 years gone to hell, I have good memories of that house, there’s nothing quite like, until the sun smiles, write me a litter and tell me about It, complicated … Continue reading In the Wine Garden
When I was 21 I went to Europe on a five-week student tour with my best friends. On our last day we were in England, and we went on a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich. I have several memories of that day, a few funny stories, conversations, photos, but there was one image … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place
Every year on Pearl Harbor Day, I like to tell the story of my late mother, who was picking oranges with her best friend on December 7th, 1941, when they got the news that the Japanese had bombed the US Naval Base in Hawaii. Every year after, she picked the first orange of the season … Continue reading Juicy
