• MULTIPLICATION

    If he thought about it at allhe probably thought himself akinto Johnny Appleseed, casting his seedand being fruitful in every sense,but some might say he was moreAttila, a Hun pillaging where he couldthen moving on, his prizes claimedthe emotional wrappings discarded.Of course we can never know whichfor some secrets unless exposeddo follow you to the…


  • TURNING

    It has been six full turnsof the shēngxiào since the dayyou brought a baby dragoninto the world and as quicklyset it free, never looking back.It is again my year, and youhave been gone for two decadesbut I was born of waterand so it is perhaps naturalthat on special daysI continue to honoryour memory with my…


  • TIME DOES NOT WAIT

    I sat today and staredinto the backyard, lookingcarefully for rabbits.None appeared today despitemy fond desire to see oneassuming it would beauspicious somehow.It is their year nowso I know they cango when and where they please.Perhaps they are lookingfor red banners of welcomeand I offer none of those forthe Buddhas on the altar sayDragon ought not…


  • HOW OLD?

    People say that dogs can liveto well over 100 dog years,but each of our yearsis seven of theirs, soour self-delusion feels complete.We want old age for our dogsto feel they have lived a full life,something we also want for ourselvesand so we project on our pets.The odd thing is that as we agewe wonder if…


  • 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…


  • THE RITE

    It is coming, a littleover a week now and itwill arrive, always too soon,never ready despite knowingits precise arrival day and time. We will be ready, butonly after a scramble, for thatis how it must be, howit has always been. And again this year wewill be thankful, as all claimon this day, but why do…


  • SHOWERS

    We sat on our lanai last nightin our twin rockers, the catcurled close by but carefullyremoved from the rockersand stared into the sky hopingmeteors would grace uswith their fleeting presence. The moon did appear, shroudedin thin clouds, spectral ghostwaxing slowly in hiding, butthe stars had fled this night,fearing the rain thatthe cloud mantle promised. We…


  • PRISONER

    This morning, I am certainthe earth pulled me down more strongly,as though gravity needed to reassert itself,having lost someone in its gripto the virus, a common complaintas we stumble through still another year. I fought it off course, the birdsin the wetland at once admiringmy effort and laughing at what they knewwould ultimately be a…


  • DUST AND ASHES

    Between Scylla and Charybdisthey cower amidst the ruinsfearful to look skywardlest they encouragethe rains of hell. Now and then they visitthe corpses, hastily buriedgrief drowned by the soundof the laugh of the gunnerpeering down from the hills.It is always night for the souland lookout must be keptfor Charon, who ridessilently along the rivers of blood,that…


  • It was the other evening, the first of two this month, they say. This only happens once in a blue moon or a couple times every two or three years and often twice in the same year. So once in a blue moon isn’t that long but she said she could feel its pull, everything…