Category: Poetic Essays

Greetings from Home

A Sunday in January, 2021, and I am on a walking trail at a local park. The sun is setting. There are maybe six people here; in pre-plague days, I would see closer to a hundred. This park consists of a lake, a trail, and around 15 different picnic areas. We walked here often when … Continue reading "Greetings from Home"

Strange Markers (4)

Eight years old, looking around a brand new restaurant. All around the high walls are watercolor paintings. Sailboats in summer. Horses running in winter. Nobody has to teach us to love drawings and paintings, we just do. Showing what we see, using only our hands, is kind of an amazing thing. Loving color, loving the … Continue reading "Strange Markers (4)"

Strange Markers (3)

Humans play thoughtlessly upon the edge of great waters, even the one called “death”. Twenty-three years old, though, and while everything was done thoughtlessly, those waters had, frankly, come to look pretty inviting. January morning, bitter cold, a storm due in. Walking, walking, mile after mile. Another year ahead, another seemingly pointless year. Thinking, at … Continue reading "Strange Markers (3)"

Strange Markers (1)

Grew up in Florida, rarely even seen snow. Twenty-two years old, fresh out of college, working in Florida, sent for a two week class in Ohio. In December. Started snowing the day after arrival. Walking around on the weekend, cutting across fields through snow, headed towards town. Ice on the roads, ice in eyebrows and … Continue reading "Strange Markers (1)"

A Lesson

If you would change the world, First seek to understand, For things don’t always go Exactly as we planned And it gets hard to clearly think With passions running strong, Or even to consider that It might be us Who’s wrong = = = = = First day of class. Taking notes. Subject: Polemics. “The … Continue reading "A Lesson"

From My Age 17 Diary

“There’s someone out there for everybody” is what girls tell you when they’re pretty sure no one they know, or could imagine knowing, would have you. Why do people stay in horror movies? Couldn’t they just walk off set? “If your friends drove off a cliff, would you—“ “Have been the one to suggest it? … Continue reading "From My Age 17 Diary"

The 6 Ages of Sorrow

There’s that year you realize, you aren’t as good at things as the other kids are. There’s that age when you find out what it is to love someone with all that you are, only to find that all that you are means nothing whatsoever to the other person. There’s the day when you realize … Continue reading "The 6 Ages of Sorrow"