Beneath my Covid mask My 4-year-old grandson Can’t tell what’s coming next. Do a cow, he says And I slowly work my way To a bold Baaaaa! That’s a sheep! He protests with glee And says Do it again. I roll my eyes Pretend to take a deep breath And let out A gentle meow. … Read morePandemic Repeat Cycle
Resting on a seabedA Japanese clay potTied to a ropeOffers refugeTo a shy octopus. The pot isPulled to the surfaceBut the octopusWill not attempt escapeFeeling safeInside the Takotsubo trap. Deep within a chestChambers of the heart weakenThen fail, and balloonTaking on the shapeOf a Japanese clay potResting on a seabed. Takotsubo syndromeTriggered by a sudden … Read moreOctopus Heart
Strings of light filling empty streets Storefronts’ cheerful glow asleep Downtown’s bustle paused. The sound of snowflakes On my hat and coat As tire tracks fade in a silent snow.
Tiny garden plants snuggled into the soil arranged in tidy rows. Each day brought a little more sun and a little more warmth, as the seedlings stretched out their leaves and wriggled their roots deeper into the dirt. Two tomato plants raised side-by-side since their greenhouse days talked about the days ahead. “I’m gonna grow … Read moreMelon Baller
Squatting in the dark a mile underground, a feeble headlight her only illumination, Rene fiddled with a coffee can and double boiler. She leased time from a mining company to dig up cinnabar to smelt into mercury. The mining company needed mercury to extract gold, but mercury mining was illegal. Both the mercury and the … Read moreShimmery Deliverance
“I should be working for the Library of Congress,” Dwayne said to his dog Mr. Pickles who was busy pursuing a crumb of bacon under the stove. “I know how to catalog things, and find them again later. Sometimes years later!” Dwayne unboxed a collection of National Geographics he bought at a thrift store. Six … Read moreBibliophile of Neglect
Wes concentrated, his left hand steadying the right as he filled out a postcard of a giant potato chained to a flatbed truck. “He’ll love it. It’s kitschy,” Wes thought. He and Devin were cut from the same cloth—a bolt hidden in a long-dead branch of the family tree. Wes never felt any connection to … Read moreStroke of Bad Luck
The beeping started out quiet and high-pitched like the squeak of a violin strike, then grew louder and louder until Tommy had to reduce the gain on his radio or risk breaking the speakers in his tiny headphones. After the beeping peaked, the pitch would dropped like a slooping trombone, as the beeps faded into … Read moreThe Radio and the Russians
As a hairstylist, Ellen spent her days on her feet. The more hours, the better. Having downtime between clients meant she was losing money. She paid rent on a fifty square foot workstation in a prestigious salon. Years of standing in place, a sedentary after-work lifestyle, and habit of buying breakfast or lunch at nearby … Read moreSlightly High
Bennie and Rob had passed by the empty lot hundreds of times. They’d been walking to school together since first grade in the most gentrified neighborhood in Idaho. The fifty blocks of formerly blue-collar Victorian, Gothic Revival and Craftsman homes nestled against the nearby mountains drew thirty-somethings from around the country seeking a taste of … Read moreThe Best and the Brightest