On the fifth day at sea, I was set adrift in a rowboat and left to my own devices. In the boat, I had an oar, rations for three days, and an umbrella. There was no cell phone, which was just as well, because I was out of reach of any towers anyway. There was…
Category: Creative
January 4
There is solace in silence Quiet that seeps in from the shadows Sleek as a cat, padding softly across tiles There is solace in silence Snowflake settling on autumn leaves Swirled by chilling winds There is solace in silence But at the same time, Not — ptkh 010414
January 3
You were the Buddha. That’s what you’d told us when you’d gone to China and the children had gathered around you, this towering behemoth of a man with a round belly and an expansive smile. When you were lying there, flat, stomach distended from post mortem gasses, I tried to be sad at your loss….
January 2
There is a paper wasp nest dangling from a tree on our easement, high above the street. It is easily the size of a human head, even desiccated as it is from winter months of disuse. Back in autumn, after the leaves had fallen and made the nest visible to anyone who walked by, I…
January 1
At some point, walking along the snow-flocked train tracks in the winter evening’s half-light, I became aware. By this I mean: All that I was was now. I had no past to dwell within, chiding myself, steeped in regrets. I had no future lingering in the wings like a Dickens villain, ready to set me…
The Grandfather Tree
I never thought I would give you permission to cut down that giant oak tree in the back of the property, the one that had led my grandfather to buy this land in the first place. It had been tall even when he’d seen it as a young man only a year into his first…
the daze of winter
i saw the daze of winter fading from the eyes of the downtrodden as a fire had been kindled afresh in the dying embers of august’s barbecue a bare-footed retinue flexed their toes in the muddy spring stretched their arms yawned out their souls and dug in again backs laden with the vexing hope of…
In the mirror
I saw my face in the mirror, in passing, and it was someone else. I didn’t recognize the eyes, or the hair, or the point of the nose. But that wasn’t it, because I never do. There was something different. A light, a candle flame, that used to flicker. It was gone. I stopped to…
Found Haiku
“It’s dinnertime, so I’m about to eat dinner. Butter is butter!” — jeh, age 3
Haiku
The nights are longer It’s harder to hold the sun Take heart: Two more weeks — ptkh 120912