"Please let tomorrow be a nice, warm, sunny day. In Jesus's name we pray, Amen."That's how I ended every prayer, every night when I was a child. And almost every day turned out to be a "nice, warm, sunny" one, so I thought God must have been real. At some point, I got suspicious, so … Continue reading A Nice, Warm, Sunny Day →

Original "Life and Lemons" post (February '13) Follow-up "Lemons" post (March '13) Now, what happens when there are no more lemons, when you're standing in the middle of the hill and nothing is tumbling from the top, while everything at the bottom has gone bad? You could stay put and await another harvest, as I … Continue reading Life and Lemons, revisited →

Timing is everything. The best and most perfect things can happen, but even the wrong day of the week can demolish all of that. It doesn't necessarily mean that the happiness from said best and perfect occurrences will be sucked away, but it does mean that plans won't be, well, as planned. And you just … Continue reading Lessons and Doings →

A few years ago, I diagnosed myself with "separation anxiety." Granted, it was one of those half-joking moments of admission. With that said, it was also one of those half-serious moments of confession. Admittedly, I probably never had a clinical case of separation anxiety, but I did know that I had always had trouble letting … Continue reading Separation Anxiety →

At one point, I was eager--frantic, really--to replace every memory and every memento with someone and something else, so that I would forget. But lately, I find that I no longer want to replace. Rather, I want to just add to every past memory and memento, in a stratified manner, with most recent on top … Continue reading Transitions →

A friend recently told me that people spend an average of seven minutes prior to falling asleep reflecting on that day and planning for the next. I told him that was a bunch of phooey for me, because I spend every other unoccupied minute of the day thinking about such things--among many others--and once my … Continue reading Seven Minutes →

You're right there, and yetI'm too stubborn--Okay, afraid--to initiate What if you don't think of meWhat I think you think of meAnd I think of you whatYou don't think of meToo much thinking, methinksI ought to just do it, soI did--and nothing

I met someone at The Misfit earlier who asked me what I would do if I were paid $1 million a year to do it. My answer was automatic: write. And throughout the remainder of the conversation, he repeatedly encouraged me to write my poetry and to publish it, because that might be the thing … Continue reading The People You Meet →

Auxiliary verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, has, have, had, do, does, did, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could.I learned these 23 auxiliary verbs in eighth grade, when Mrs. Heffner pushed us to learn and love grammar. And learn and love grammar I did.But I never really heeded the … Continue reading Auxiliary →