Viet Nam

I’ve seen the Viet Nam Memorial wall in Washington DC, and now the memorial chapel in Angel Fire, NM. In Washington, the very air around the wall felt saturated with grief. People choked back tears. In Angel Fire I was alone, the only person there, and the emotional tone of the place seemed very different [...]

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Let go

The prospect of dying elders creates a split personality in us. We know in our heads that it’s time; the years were well spent, the elder is ready and peaceful about the change to come, we know it’s inevitable. Yet when the moment comes to actually let go, our heart screams out disagreement with the [...]

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May Day

Thanks to my habit of awaking hours before the rest of the world, I snagged the shade under one of only three trees in the mosaic covered courtyard of the church of Our Lady of the Cave, where a Greek May Day festival was underway.
Graceful young Greek women in traditional hand-woven cloth danced in the [...]

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Parade

I waited for a stately parade of cars trapped behind a slow moving school bus to pass, then I ran across the street. I punched 911 into my phone as I approached her. Jeanette lay on the ground beside her house, the hose in her hand spurting crazily in the air like a fountain gone [...]

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The camera loves

The camera loved Albuquerque in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie In From the Night that I watched on CBS last night. The views of the mountains, especially from inside the courthouse, were wonderful. There were nice shots of homes, gardens, the university, and the mountains. The cameraman made Albuquerque look like the most beautiful [...]

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On sale now

Down the street
At the estate sale
Everything is
On sale now
Half-price
Down the street
At the estate sale
There’s no family
To want the
Years’ accumulation
Down the street
At the estate sale
Strangers pick
Through artifacts
Representing a life
Leave a comment with your first 50 words about “on sale now.”

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My tree

I woke with a horrible pain in my head. I touched it and found blood. I was spread out on damp, leaf-covered ground. I was cold, wet. Where was I? There was a strange looking tree. At first I couldn’t understand why the tree looked that way, then I remembered that there was an animal [...]

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My interpretation

I quote: Exxon Mobil paid its departing CEO $48.5 million last year. He made $21.2 million cashing in stock options, and $3.1 million in dividends. His retirement package is worth $250 million.
My interpretation of this statistical information is that the United States of America has plenty of money for health care, universal insurance coverage, adequate [...]

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Don’t forget

Don’t forget the tickets. Don’t forget your coat. Don’t forget to be home by 6:30. The woman drives me crazy with her mothering. Does she think I can’t manage the simplest things by myself? I’m an adult, her flipping breadwinner, and capable of running a business all by myself. If she starts in on me [...]

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Burrito

The Bucking Burrito sat off highway 40 a ways on the outside of town. It was a flat-topped cinder block building, in need of paint and a lot fewer ruts in the parking lot. When I opened the door the aroma of chile, onions, and frying meat greeted me with an embrace. There were five [...]

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