• FLIP IT

    It would be an anathema to himif he were a Pope or held deeply feltopinions about anything, but he does not.He denies being vacillating, rather, he says,he is just open to a multitude of views,never mind, she replies, that hecan never make any important decisionexcept by mere chance or luck.He says he prefers life this…


  • NEW LISTING

    Consider them very carefullyfor you will have only this chanceand you don’t want to addthose which ought not be includedor be forever burdened by thoseyou overlooked or misassumedyou wanted to retain.When you are quite certainyou are finished, that your listis exactly as you wish it,that all your dislikes and regretsare properly delineated, thenwalk slowly to…


  • KNOWLEDGE

    It is difficult explaining to a child,even one who has reached the age of 40,that you once knew all there was to know.They are certain they know more than you,and they know all there is to knowso, a fortiori, you could not knowall that there is to know, period.They will say this with a certain…


  • TIDAL SHIFTS

    It’s difficult enough, Mom, that Inever got to meet you, to see your facesave in a college yearbook, to haveonly a few relatives acknowledgemy existence despite the DNA testthat clearly links us, one to the other.What makes it more difficult istrying to figure out my heritage,my geographic roots before our familyarrived in West Virginia, backin…


  • TUESDAY TRUTH: BROTHER JOHN

    Are you serious? You have the temerity to ask me if I am sleeping? Seriously? If, for a moment, you thought that I was sleeping, why in hell would you jostle me and then ask me if I was sleeping? And how many times do I have to tell you that I never liked the…


  • MITOCHONDRIAL

    I always imagined it would somehowbe romantic, not in the Hollywood sort of way,but in an idyllic, picturesque manner,even if that denied basic reality.Reality, when it comes to origins discoveredis overrated, for the normal percolation timeis denied, and the impact is suddenwith no restraints to temper the blow.Way back when, you learned by storiestold by…


  • TUESDAY TRUTH: THREE MICE

    Good lord, people would you get your facts straight. Yes, there were three of us, but one is now gone. He disappeared one night, though I think the cat got him. But that is as close to accurate as you got. Okay, we were all severely myopic, or I was, and they said they were…


  • A SONG FOR A LOVER

    It is hard, looking back, to recalljust how many hours I spent searchingwith a fair amount of diligence for justthe right song to express my love.Most often I would find it,but only after that love had beenreplaced by another, demandinga new song — you cannot usethe same song for two different loves,that crosses well over…


  • TUESDAY TRUTH: THE SPRATTS

    I mean, seriously, did anyone really think that the Spratt marriage would ultimately last? Sure, the first couple of years were imagined bliss. And sure, their dietary desires did help them avoid almost all waste. But that big a difference, even if only seemingly in eating habits, foretells differences in other areas of life. He…


  • DEMENTIA

    He can remember it as though it was just yesterday. Actually it was just yesterday, but for him that had little to do with memory. Bits of his childhood would come flooding back: the city, the cousins who took him in for the few dollars his mother could offer. But his grandsons are a vague…