when I was a child I wished I was a wizard it took a long time for me to realize humans cannot be trusted with magic greedy, short-sighted, violent I became a therapist instead (after a brief detour) working with those same humans vulnerable, well-meaning, overwhelmed when they say, “I need to process trauma” or […]
you arrive screaming what a terrifying thing infinite potential for harm and kindness more screaming, more and more, at all hours like you know about this place already I, on behalf of the shattered then partially and insufficiently reconstructed planet, apologize what suffering will you cause, alleviate, survive and who will you blame? completely dependent […]
trucks trailers and campers keep right I steer none of these but I move anyway the right side of the bridge to see a brief, uninterrupted expanse where sea and cosmos merge the sun cannot draw a line here calling it the horizon fire and earth create such anchors water and air are for floating […]
This morning I was driving to work at first lightPondering art in my morning commuteCommitting myself to attempting to paint some dayConsidering shapes and colorsSettling on a light yellow fade to light blue, punctuated with silhouettes I thoughtbecause of the paleness of the sky, perhaps I could create this drawingwith a sponge or a cloth rather than […]
it’s pouring this year I mean today I mean this year as it goes sometimes last year everything dried up everyone everywhere was parched this year, it all flooded back in and then some we may grumble have to change our clothes and our lives but I don’t mind all this weathering with you let’s […]
I never learn. People say “you’ve got a piece of my heart” to each other, but I can’t love like that. My love is blazing, not warm, not tepid. It’s like I grow an entire organ full of sunshine every time and when the possessor goes, that piece of me will be raining forever. I […]
Pessimism is one of the hardest forms of suffering. Pessimism is unassuaged by goodness. Pessimism looks a gift horse in the mouth and then punches it. – Pessimism insists on calling badness inevitable and constant and then making it such to perpetuate itself. Pessimism does not allow space for the possibility of improvement. Pessimism rebuffs […]
you have 167 hours every week to build yourself up or tear yourself down (or be torn down by others) to work and rest and play and socialize and isolate and change to despair and rejoice and remember . we get 1 hour most weeks to process everything you are and were and want and […]
the sky shattered and tiny pixels rained down blinking and hissing nearby another burst sent waves of gems across thickening layers of smoke evening reports creatures of the locale tuned in, keyed up, screeched back we did know light could deafen having seen and heard storms but who knew black sand from the earth could […]
the first (and only) green bean we grew is misshapen an “L” for love at least we’ve got that down even if we are not gardeners but maybe one more will grow I’ll split this one with you
for a moment I understood everything but the most important thing I understood or at least the one I remember is that I don’t need to understand everything – because everything can be anything and anything is fine – because Schrödinger’s cat wasn’t the only cat (or even a cat) some cats prefer boxes and […]
you don’t belong here you’re here to take it in you’re not here to let it in observe the I-ness of 10,000 things the way each has limited capacity for the others becomes accustomed, disinterested bored so quickly as though time was some precious commodity as though years were significant and spending them was a […]
Morning checks: -Three bluebird eggs in box 1. -A dummy nest in box 2. House wrens build them. Do they get along, Google? -House wrens may attack bluebird eggs and hatchlings. -House wrens block all available nesting cavities from other birds. -House wrens are territorial up to an acre surrounding their real nest. -House wrens […]
I am over sleeping it takes too much of my morning I want my time back the birds and the alarm beckon me to awaken I feel the urge to rise but I snooze the call again and again for years I had insufficient time for sleep at that point my life value was centered […]
the thing about missing you is that for the first time thoughts of mortality while still daunting confusing and unsolicited are now also somewhat comforting not because I want to go soon nor because of some confidence about thereafter but simply because I am glad to know I will not exist in perpetuity all the […]
honor has no patience for teaching anymore devotion does not want friends they never put in equal effort someone nearly broke compassion she cares but does not trust curiosity circles a cage assembled of his anxieties the manhunt was called off but they did try to find hope for a while – there were fliers […]
we speak so much excessbefore we learn to hear we are born screamingbut the fortunate die quietly taking longer each day to say much at alllistening to the chorus, not soloists an unexpected peace settling inunspoken, unstriving waking each morningto splendid birdsong
“You’re not leaving me alone down here,” it speaks, calling up from a trench between me and sleep. I try to bypass and ignore, to no avail; I curse and implore, but rest is derailed. I cannot fall asleep so down instead, my soul to keep but not my head. I dig around the edges, […]
Mr. Ehrmann, we desire the same conditions. But I cannot seem to avoid myself, vexing as I can be. I work to be calm and kind. Yet sometimes a cyclone ravages my cranium. I was quiet and meek once. It nearly killed me. No, not figuratively. These descriptors you used, The things I hate most […]
It’s not even a bad ride. The bus doesn’t smell of bodily fluids; no traffic impedes the way. Ahead, a shower of sparks illuminates the silhouettes of overpass workers. Urban rains splash on greasy sidewalks, churning bubbles that slip down puddles. Other drivers crawl along slick streets, peering out as grainy, low-resolution snapshots of themselves […]
quill takes flight 