• I HATE THIS

    I am not a person who hatestoo many things, and fewer people.I say that in my own defense, foryou have asked me to list my hates,and no one, anywhere, save perhapsthe Dalai Lama, is free of hate.so here goes my short list.I hate polluters and those who carenot at all for the world in whichwe…


  • STOP THAT

    We love nothing more than to anthropomorphize. It is one of our defining characteristics. We cannot avoid it even if we try. We never try. It makes our lives simpler since we can relate more easily to people than to animals or things. And after all, we did make God in our image, or is…


  • YOUR TURN

    They said that we onlywanted to tear things down, thingsthat they treasured, wanted to maintain.That was only half true, becausewe knew that to build whatwas needed, you had to tear downwhat was there that would not,could not, be integrated.We did tear down someof those things they valued,but we built things that werebetter for the majority…


  • THEY SAID

    She said, “If youhave something to sayjust say it.”He said, “I already did,I said it all.”She said, “Saysomething else, then.”He said, “I havenothing else to say,it has allbeen said already.”She said, “Thatis the problemwith you,you never wantto talk aboutthings I want.”He said, “I do haveone more thingI must say to you –Goodbye.”


  • ANTIPATHY

    Some of his acquaintences said his problemwas that he constantly demonstratedantipathy toward people, toward things.He knew, of course, that was not thecase but he dared not say that lestthey use it as yet another exampleof his antipathy. The reason, he leftunsaid, was that he didn’t have antipathy,it was that such an emotionrequired feelings about things…


  • IMAGINE THAT

    There is a certain joy in writing fiction,for many readers will assume the protagonistis the author or at least partially basedon the author, never pausing to considerthat the villains and lesser charactersare just as likely to be based to some extenton the author or bits of his or her life.And often the readers are not…


  • SOON

    They are coming for him and he is ready. He has been waiting for this moment for quite some time. It Isn’t what he wanted certainly, but now it isn’t something to fear. He knows that once they come, he will look back on it and regret the moments he spent being concerned. He will…


  • PURPOSES

    Life, she said, is all aboutfinding purpose not things. It was hard to argue with her,as she overwhelmed with examples. Rice filling a small bowlholds an incense stick up and catches the ashesas they fall quietly down.. A cracked plate can situnder a plant, catching any overflow from itscareful daily watering. And old fleece jacket…


  • ON THE SHELF

    He found the cup by the curb one morning walking to the bus. He rarely notice things on his walk, thinking always about the day ahead. But this day he saw it, picked it up and put it in his messenger bag intending to clean it later, when he got home after work. He had…


  • IMAGINING

    I never imagined any of this, couldn’t have you correctly note, but I imagined many things that did not, could not exist, that after all is one purpose of dreams and nightmares. I did imagine writing, words shaped to fit odd places, never round pegs or square holes, but fluid, shifting shapes like lava seeking…