My expired war

I had my war. I laid down at gunpoint too many times. I sampled fear and turned fearless in one day. I took a ride to the other side not by drugs or fasting or breathing weirdly . . . but by living with abandon. And the other side taught me all that was needed, …

My expired war Read More »

Headmaster ritual

I’m nowhere you can’t be or haven’t been. The settings and scenes don’t change much. You just keep getting pestered by the things that show the light. Like a friendly, flirting flick on the ear, the bothersome lad suggests you look closer in the most playful of ways. An awkwardly oversized hawk stumbles drunkenly from …

Headmaster ritual Read More »

Rodents

We’re all rodents here, with plenty of food. Illusions of lack abound. The only task is to widen the eyes and see what’s really going on. And what is that? We are in the midst of an explosion of natural gifts. We snuff out a mosquito, a possum or an ugly potato bug, and thousands …

Rodents Read More »

Always here

Nightshade on the hill. In my life. A stipe of dripping glaze on pottery. A reaching pine that pretends to bow down. A handful of tomatoes born of weaker dirt. A crying seabird above roadway tire hums. The sun crowns above the wealthy homes on the hill. A necklace of eggs surrounds my neck like …

Always here Read More »

Those who mask

And the jester knows not how he jests or if he jests. He’s clad with shiny ideas – a fist full of data and facts, absolutely knowing what the world is but aware of no thing. Aware of nothing under his nose. Not of the flea jumping across cement-bonded bricks. Nothing of coffee tasting like …

Those who mask Read More »