If the saxophone is the world’s sexiest instrument, the baritone sax must be its tubby sister no one wants to date. While the sax is out front getting glory, hitching itself to names like Coltrane, Parker, and Getz, the bari hangs behind, nameless and faceless. I’m one of […]
The girl with the sticky fingers doesn’t know she holds a rare artifact beneath her thumb. Please don’t think she’s stupid for that. Her mother doesn’t know either. Neither would you, were it your hand holding me (or your jeans pocket, or change purse, or the little compartment […]
It’s time again for my annual birthday story. Writers sometimes talk of stories that write themselves. The older I get, the more elusive I find such stories to be. This one, however, did write itself. Channeling this tale brought me comfort; I hope it does the same for […]
It is my forty-third birthday today, and this year I am dedicating my annual birthday story, written from the POV of a character who shares the same birthday, to the man called Buffalo Dave. Buffalo Dave, wherever you are, this story won’t make you famous, but I hope […]
A hammock is the best place to relax. This is what my wife told me when I opened her birthday present to me––a woven, technicolored hammock––complete with poles, since our tiny yard lacks the requisite pair of trees. At first, I laughed at the gift, but now that […]
I turn forty one today. For the second year in a row, I’ve crafted myself a birthday present in the form of a story, written from the POV of a character who shares my same birthday. Most of my characters are loosely based on people I know in […]
Today is my fortieth birthday. Apparently, this is something of a benchmark. I’m fortunate to have a couple undisturbed hours to craft a fortieth birthday gift for myself. This is a small slice of life that’s rattled in the back of my head for awhile now. Like the narrator, […]
You turn ten today. I vividly recall last year when you turned nine, I suffered several days with anxiety over the fact that you were merely a year from hitting double digits. I have a visceral aversion to calendars and dates – systems that serve […]
We humans are a forgetful lot. This has always been true of us, but never more so than it is now, with our awareness obscured behind an obnoxious fog of techno bleeps, hashtags, “shares”, and “hey, look at this cute video of my cat!” Our small, addled minds […]
I’m afflicted this morning with a nervous stomach. I’ll expound in more detail at a later time, but I’ve been reading this book – The Wisdom of the Enneagram. It talks a lot about remaining present, living in the moment and feeling the sensations of the heart and […]
Legionwriter 