Ode To Winter

The first time I came home for a Christmas breakHaving endured a frigid Midwest fall semesterThe coldest on record, my … More

Midwestern Return

With the windows up it’s so quietThe dead and I can only hear the engine humThe AC pump purring its … More

You Are a Star

It was the perfect way your body woreThe “I am a Star” T-shirt I brought to MadisonA collector’s item printed … More

Ode To Farming

A Hawai‘i boy spends an autumn weekend farming in WisconsinReplaces fence posts, pulls tree stumps using chains and a tractorCuts … More

Hauntings

I see the scene of resting that night poorlyThe fitful 2:00 a.m. dead of a Madison nightOutside a Lutheran church … More

Marches On

Grad school was a bad time to discoverI was burned out on reading and writingHad only a desire for playing … More

Hawai’i Ties

Oh, said Mr. Souza, as he closed the bathroom door. Please do remember to lower the seat. The women who … More

The Voice

Kimo and I advanced cautiously up the hill. When we reached spots where the old man had difficulty, I, as … More

The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave

In graduate school, my social life consists almost exclusively of visits to my two best friends, Mel and his wife, … More

Porta Bella

I see you always, a glass of red wine dangled in your hand before you,reclining luxuriously in an overstuffed chair, … More

To Autumn

Love might break in at Indian Summer,a mid-autumn drying then, and quick,remember Madison on fire,the multi-bright colored leaves,votive candles, how … More

Running in the Dark

I watch the Midwest-style lightningjags rip from heaven to the ground,the lake ice exploding with the impact. Slipping on my … More

Will you honor this price? he asks

In my record store days, so hard to forget the bad,mostly race-related incidents back in the wild Midwest,haunting me when … More

Madison WI

I’ll be back next March 2023, aftera three-year hiatus has cost me time. It’s become a kindly drug that worksto … More

Disease

Why do I remember how elm treesdied along the avenues in Madison?Blighted. Some disease. Blamethe Dutch? Really? What an honorto … More

Solitaire

Two months since I left Wisconsin, packed up and moved home to Hawai‘i. The phone rings, and it’s her. I … More

Taken

The convertible top was seven years old now. Under good conditions, Chris figured it would have held up for many … More

For a Minute or Two, Maybe

I did not know what weather meant until I went to Wisconsin.Winter in Hawai‘i, more rain. Summer, more heat.Spring and … More

The Age of Ice

Reflecting on you and the lake ice, I watched how it broke upin wintertime, huge blocks working against each otheras … More

Under the Golden Arches

Always a favorite of minethat last meal with youwriting about it repeatedlyhow we dined at McDonald’sFilet-o-Fish and friesthe grandest of … More