Things that seemed near and easy, I distained. The man with the comfortable smile who opens door and pulls out chairs.. not for me. The stable friend who calls just to check in and see if I want to rent…

I explore the depths of my imagination at night, my unconscious meandering the universe of possibility as I slumber. "In my wildest dreams", people often say. I take that seriously. At day, I am buttoned up, prim, sensible. But at…

My first lover was a Jewish boy from Brooklyn, as close to my roots as I ever strayed. He was 2 years older, and went to an exotic out-of-borough school of performing arts, and his mother had painted a jungle…

Every year before the schools open for students, most school Districts have State-required teacher development sessions for a few days the week before. Every District is different and things change from school to school and year to year but generally,…

My life is filled with things both far and strange….but then, whose life isn’t? Life itself is both far-fetched and strange, and the very notion of Life is as strange as possible. Studying a Photograph The image is of my…

(Note: I'm using this to do some revising of characters in my work in progress novel.) “Annie McCracken.” Dale Rude heaved himself to his feet behind his oak desk. “I figured you’d be back in Chicago by now.” “Yeah,” I…

merchants; exotic wares. a bookseller was her favorite, spent all her money! gardener left behind an old edition, with a note for her, she pored over it: written by dipla! When visitors came, Ana was there, on it, ready. who…

We were born in the same year, on different planets. Your father laughed at your cut-open jaw, plied you with wine coolers when you were eight, pulled you into doom you'd rather have never known. It didn't hurt, you said,…

About “the far” and “the strange:” the past tense “I loved” applies, but so does the present tense. I was reading my journal of years ago – I mean, what good are journals unless they’re being re-read?—about the first time…

Jules and I have been irritating each other for the past few days. She knows she's been annoying me which makes her mad and she comes at me with a barrage of assertions and broad statements. "I can never talk…

Carmen leaned back in the rocker on her porch. She shaded her eyes and looked out over the barren strip of dirt someone had the audacity to call a street. Dust devils swirled and dissipated, an endless dance that never…

The day her husband finally died, agatha tidied his closet. There was not much to do. It was already organized. Feeling idle, she packed his bow ties in a box in case John needed them later. She had always been…