• DEAR SIR OR MADAM

    Dear politician:I received what seemedlike a stream of emails from youthis week and I would like youto stop sending them, but of courseyour unsubscribe link doesn’t work.I trust you got it from the same peoplethat fail to wire the Close Door buttonson nearly every elevator I have ridden.Please know you are wastingyour time seeking money…


  • FETCH

    I think I stopped going to partiesbecause I grew tired of hearing howso many other’s lives had gone to hell,how they hated their jobs, and a fewhated their significant others and hopedto make them insignificant othersif they could ever get the courageto leave or ship them out, butmaybe it was just because Istopped getting invited…


  • THE PARK

    He was taking a shortcut across the park. He saw the clouds building, about to bring the long-promised rain. He wasn’t sure why he decided to walk home rather than take the bus as he usually did. He didn’t like to walk, but the doctor had told him he needed to exercise more, and he…


  • FOR THE BIRTHDAY BOY

    On April 23 of this coming year,Wiliam Shakespeare will celebratehis 450th birthday, a momentous occasionto be certain, but knowing how cantankeroushe can be the odds of him showing upat the party I want to throw for him areabout as slim as the odds of Bob Dylanever sitting down on the edge of the stagewherever he…


  • SUZY

    What do you sayon the loss of a child?We sat in the loungedrinking a vile potionfrom a hollowed pineapple,giggling insanelyfor no reason.We wandered the tunnelsfaces painted,clowns in bedlam.We lay togetheron a mattresson the floor and listenedto Aqualungmy arms around youboth, but sleepcame slowly and we talkeduntil night ran fromthe encroaching sun. I can feel her…


  • NOT THAT PICTURE

    Whoever first penned the adagethat picture is worth a thousand wordsand the multitude who haverepeated it ad nauseam in many languagesclearly never attended the partiesI once attended where, when the foodwas consumed, the guests adjournedto a den or living room wheresomeone wanted to form teams“for a spirited game of charades.”Then one poor, lost soul wouldstand…


  • DINNER PARTY

    Technology has effectivelydestroyed the intimatedinner parties that oncewere the core of a social life. You fretted over whetherthe souffle would collapse,if the wine was chilledto the right temperature,if the entree was back timedsufficiently to allow timefor the hors d’oeuvresand if the guests wouldarrive at the scheduled time. Now it is a fear that Grubhubor Doordash…


  • NYE

    As a child, I only wantedto stay up until midnight,actually a bit after that time,to see in the new year. I didn’t need to beat my parents’ party, itwas too loud and the adultsbehaved more like my kidbrother and sister asthe magic moment approached. And it was supposed to bea magical moment, althoughno one could…


  • HELL DONE OVER

    My ultimate goal, never to be achievedis to redesign hell and all of its circlesto better reflect the world we live in now. Of course I’d need two circles forpoliticians, one for each major party,and independents get to choose. Catholic priests, minister and rabbiswho abused members of their flocksget a circle of their own with…


  • WHAT IF THEY

    Today they gave a party. Today, so far, no one came. Today, so far and until some come, we will breath easier. Tomorrow they may give another party. We hope that no one comes. The same for Tuesday and Wednesday, although that was supposed to be our party, but we can no longer come, because…