And this, too, is Paradise

Here in paradise they’ll paytake me to Hawai‘i neiHome of Diamond Headpearly shells from the oceanTourists negotiate the poornight and … More

It’s Wednesday, it’s raining, and the dog needs to go out.

Billie – I’ll call her Billie – sings her soft blues now,not a bark or a howl, but a throaty, … More

Murder, He Dreamed

Ever feel like you should be on trial for something?With what we get away with over our life’s course,do you … More

Taste of the Place

We eat well on this tour, a different restaurant for most meals.The breakfasts included at each of our hotels provide … More

Not So Sweet

We five have known each other more than 30 years.Post-pandemic, we meet for coffee, jokingthat we’ve become the senior citizens … More

That Other World

Darkness never bothered me, even as a kid.It’s what might be hiding there that’s worrying. My mother always told me … More

Hold On

We sit on swings, the canvass kind that conform to your butt,holding you snug, gripping you maybe a little too … More

She Will

She asks me if I’ve taken out the trash yet,and because I haven’t, I don’t answer her. I continue watching … More

Reflections

Amazing how so much dust and grimecoat the surface of a wall mirror.Lying on the floor, I could easily see,but … More

A Little Death

For cutting and weeding there’s nothing I like morethan my small sickle, its 3-inch serrated bladeeasy to maneuver speedily with … More

I Am, I Said

People can be such drive-by critics, those looking for value.But maybe I prefer that, not being seen, comparedto rubbernecking quick-stoppers … More

Remember the time in the laundry room?

I sat perched atop one of the dryers in our apartment building basement, absorbing warmth, enjoying the rumbling spin of … More

Things In Life

Go on, please turn your head this way.I close my eyes, and you’re all I see.The best things in life … More

Old Man Eating Alone in a Chinese Restaurant

for Billy Collins I can’t resist the temptationto write about you, old man,eating alone at the corner table in a … More

Carpool

I’m not sure why you and I called it a carpool. It wasjust we two, and I always drove. There … More

Covid, I tell you, too sick to write. But I think I’m back. This draft is called “King of the Lily Pond”

Ed reads the draft of his story. It’s about Joe, his oldest cousin, tall and broad, much more so than … More

Covid, I tell you. Forgot to publish yesterday’s poem called “Out of Time”

It must be younever really caughton, weren’t smartenough to know,or weren’t thinkingabout how true lovemight grow when you could. Throughtime it … More

The Beast

Rolling down his window, “Beware,” he said. “There is some beast in there. These old houses. It’s easy for them … More

No Peace

I see something sullen, a sort of smoldering angerin the face of the father. I understand he has losthis son … More

My World

Eventually now, I see the whole wide world we knew,if we live long enough – I’m finding it’s so for … More