Firestarter

This day, when the milk carton rips a little onopening, that hernia, not quite repaired, bites whenyou stand, the coffee, “Fogcutter” it says on the baglies or anyway overestimates and dogsgrayly humbled by sudden damp, grumblemelancholalia stops their frantic shrieks to murmursunworth a dart to the glass-fronted door, eventhe mail carrier FedEx UPS slinks boneless … [more]

Place of Refuge

“Spread out, ya knuckleheads!” Our drill sergeant barked at us in his normally cheerful tone. “One grenade’d get all y’all!” Murmuring alarm at the inevitable bloody future awaiting us, we shut up and spread out, thus facilitating getting dropped to the red, South Carolina dirt for a smoke session. The lesson held: crowding together equals … [more]

Get A Life

It’s a general article of faith in today’s GOP (and pretty much nowhere else in America) that women seeking abortions are slutty, adulterous murder bitches.

Whiteout

It’s held its color well, probably because it was an early shot in the fully artificial fabric wars. Ring-spun, so it’s breathable and doesn’t stick to me on a hot day like the seat cover from a 1960s sedan, the chest of it is proudly bespangled with the logo of a school I went to … [more]

To My Dear Children

…on the dangerous idea of love. Terrifying as it may sound, I implore each of you to open your hearts and love someone, some animal, some machine, some experience, some moment. Know that it will fade. People will disappoint you; beloved pets will die on your watch; history may bend toward justice but it degenerates, … [more]

Cheers, kid!

Dear Cougster: I don’t know what to tell young adults about their 21st birthdays, other than “don’t expect too much.” Like New Year’s Eve or bachelor parties, it’s often an occasion more gleefully anticipated than fondly remembered. Basically, if you get through it without hurting yourself too badly, scrawl it loopily into the “win” column … [more]

Seeing My Girls

Never wonder whether I hold guilt over it; the answer is always, inevitably that I have guilt about all of it.

Paleolithic

For Yogi, and my many other brothers, in and out of arms, in and out of harm’s way: We started sharp and young, so strongThat brittle hardly matteredWe knew ideas were right or wrongThat only weak stones shattered Just off our banks, history flowedChanged us without our knowingWe thought we’d make a mighty splashThe river … [more]