Guest Post: Part of me is gone, you know I’ve left for parts unknown, and though You hear my voice, you rub my hands I’m living in forgotten lands, where Voices only I will know, are laughing loud And whispering low, you look concerned You shouldn’t be, exchanging glances I don’t see With unseen faces … Continue reading Parts Unknown
Every now and then life slips into technicolor … because a particular moment is so glorious … or so frightfully tragic. We've all seen things we wish we could unsee … and we tuck that hard stuff deep down inside. And it stays safe there … until something wakes it up. In this morning’s twilight-sleep, … Continue reading September 12, 2001
Kidhood should happen when you turn nine … maybe ten. And last until the day you turn fourteen. Then it’s over. Done. That’s when everything you’ve learned starts to count. For real. Tommy Scott taught me to follow directions … by diagramming touch-football plays on my bony chest … with his stiff index-finger. The McCann … Continue reading Kidhood
The real trouble with reality is that there's no background music. I so wanna hear some music right now … because the moment needs it. It’s just sad. Bad sad. More than half a lifetime ago … when my world was moving so fast … I had a friend who helped me catch my breath. … Continue reading Lost Friend
“But you saw no fault … no cracks in my heart And you knelt beside … my hope torn apart But the ghosts that we knew ... will flicker from view And we'll live a long life” My father’s name was Connie … and he was impossibly strange. Black Irish. Latin features ... Roman nose, … Continue reading The Cracks In My Heart
Leland Dodge spent his middle school years dodging one very bad kid. He loved his middle school … he just hated the third floor quad. His math and science classes met there. It’s also where he met Dutch Holland. The one very bad kid. Leland Dodge went by “Fiver”. That’s what everybody called him. He … Continue reading One Bad Kid
Night Noise "Ave Maria, Gratia Plena, Dominus Tecum." Mothers don't pray like the rest of us. I learned that long ago. As a boy. Have a brother at war and you'll learn lots of secrets about your Mother. She seemed the same lady … but she wasn't. Everybody went about growing up. The house kept … Continue reading The War Mother
“Genius is childhood recalled at will.” Charles Baudelaire Know why geniuses are so rare? Because the art of reliving … of remembering … of recollecting ... is lost. Maybe not forever. But it's surely rare. Too many people have no rearview mirrors. No chronicle. The here and now is all that matters. This moment. The right-now-moment. … Continue reading Leave ‘Em Alone
I could never get enough of my mother … because the line was too long. I was the fifth of six sons. Denis in the middle. My situation wasn’t any more desperate than anyone else in the tribe … we were all mother-deprived. But it wasn’t her fault. The poor lady was run-ragged searching … Continue reading Lady Madonna
I am not so young anymore. I lug around lots of memory stuff ... flashbacks I mostly keep to myself because ... because they're only important to me. But sometimes I see something ... or hear something ... and I have a " if only I knew then, what I know now" moment. So I … Continue reading Unhurry Your Child …
Missives Worth Reading 