Monthly Archives: February 2024

It was a cold Monday on Jan 6th, 1979 that my move from Willingboro NJ to Cleveland Ohio took place. Upon arriving at my new abode the day was noteworthy.  The moving van and I arrived at the same time, … Continue reading →

They shatter themselves into bits of everyone else’s shadow.They linger in the cradle of a valley like the setting sun.They pass far beyond the black, stealing the boundaries of your direction and painting their own ideas of white lines on … Continue reading →

The alarm on my smartphone screamed its usual cheery tune. I glanced at it with a scowl and it stopped. I know I can not shut it off by looking at it. I must be dreaming. I guess I will … Continue reading →

Wow, that was one hell of a New Year’s Eve party. At least, the parts I remember were. I don’t understand what made the room spin so erratically while the antique grandfather clock was ringing in its welcome to 2024. … Continue reading →

Good writing is not easy.  Whether author, blogger, diarist, journalist, we are likely to have discovered that truth a long time ago.  Nevertheless, it is a lot easier than when I began in the 1980s—as a look backward to 1985 … Continue reading →

The Beast of configuration loomed overhead, admonishing all to practice the rituals of obedience and structure. It screamed. It demanded. It threatened all with its insanity, terrifying the populace and causing many to drop their tools and run. Chaos lurked … Continue reading →

As a kid, I had a very strict rule. I didn’t eat anything green. I was a finicky eater at best, but I just hated the awful taste in my mouth. And to make matters worse, my mother wasn’t a … Continue reading →

New York. 2 a.m. I awake from a restless sleep with a start, stressed by my upcoming doctoral comprehensives. Dreaming of failure, lost research, arriving naked — all the exam nightmares — sleep is clearly futile. Surrendering to the demon … Continue reading →

I was sitting one night eating some reheated egg rolls and pork fried rice. Perhaps it was the MSG or the STPP or some such but I began to imagine I was a dragonfly on the inside wall of a … Continue reading →

Today is the big day. After all these years, I’m to be happily tossed out with the trash without as much as a farewell. Have you forgotten that I was with you from the very beginning? I’m responsible for many … Continue reading →

I hang in the far end of the close, pants and coat.   I am rarely used, lonely, mostly forgotten.  Here I am, interned in the dark, day after day.  Always accompanied by a few ties draped over a hook nearby.  … Continue reading →

After three flights and a two hour ferry ride in rough Atlantic waters our packed van climbs slowly on rutted roads interrupted by a shallow stream or two. The van is determined to shake loose a few of my fillings … Continue reading →

Reading from the game-card, Lenny asks, “What’s something that, once lost, can never be found?”  He leers at me, waiting for my reply. “Innocence,” I declare, and the others applaud as my answer garners the points I need to win … Continue reading →

My wife asked me to go out for a few groceries and believe it or not, I jumped at the chance. It’s silly to say, but somehow I thought retirement would be different. For the last decade, I counted each … Continue reading →

Hey, John.  Grab a chair, Steve and Mark will be here any minute.  Say, I saw you last night at the restaurant with Denise.  How smart of you, you got the romantic little booth in the corner.  Wow, she is … Continue reading →

Today I get a notice my xfinity services have been cut off for my home in Illinois and the amount due is $492.34. The only reason I received this notification is because my auto pay didn’t go thru. I would … Continue reading →

Between a dream I saw you, broken and torn; contaminating your openness. You, the beginning. The end. The shortcut. You, the burglar of thought. The anticipation of reason. You, the prediction. The waiting. You, the inbetween. I felt my edges … Continue reading →

It’s been so long a time since I’ve been this way. Awkward and unaware. Trying to write myself a way home. Should I look to the north and smother myself in its strangeness? Would that help change the depth of … Continue reading →

The brothel was tight on Saturday night,The Johns were lined up at the door.The ladies were busy, almost in a tizzy,Even up on the very top floor.But one callow chappie was quite unhappy, That he hadn’t gotten his due.“I paid … Continue reading →

Chief Detective Cramer sat at his desk. He gazed out the window- staring and straining to look into the past. He smiled as he recalled several police cars blocking the street with their lights flashing, darkened hallways lit by 40 … Continue reading →

I keep having this reoccurring dream that I’m running down an empty street. It’s darker than a midnight where the dim shadow of a sliver blue moon and the intermittent blink of a couple faulty streetlights cast cruel lonely silhouettes. … Continue reading →

Dedicated to Evie Blackhall, who loved L. Carroll and her cats, Thelma and Louise ‘Twas brillig, in Queen Ebbie’s lite lair, Alle the knip was kneppen in the knichen. Aslopin and aslephen the tabby pair Thelma and Louise the tun … Continue reading →

Ernie Hager, a short-sized Cuban cigar rancher-type in his mid-40’s enjoys a sunny day at the local horse race. Willie Mays Hayes, railroad engineer struts down the aisle way with a corndog in his mouth while trying to balance the … Continue reading →

It was a beautiful sunny Florida day with temperature in the low 80”s when I took my daughter and her family out on a 22 ‘pontoon boat fishing. I belong to the freedom boat club which enables me to take … Continue reading →

I have until midnight to decide. I’m conflicted. Deadlines make me nervous. I know that I need deadlines. Without them I usually waste precious time. Let’s see, with 7 more years of expected life, what am I supposed to do … Continue reading →