A Case of Hatback

He looked a certain way. Besides size and presence, Grandpa was a hat-wearing man.

Darkly Dawns the Solstice

A couple of years later, I left the careful silence of our never-home apartment to spend my birthday alone, sleeping rough under a ’58 Willys in the company of my good dog Junior and a dented bourbon flask.

Happy Day

Can’t hit an unwavering, choirboy-pure high note anymore (hi, Mom!), but these days I kinda like shuffling through a few songs, growling like Tom Waits’s bartender. There are few fucks left to give and each time I find one, I do my best to pass it down to our kids.

Light One Candle

I don’t know his name and never will. That candle is hard for me to label, and even harder to light. May his memory, tough though that is, be for a blessing.

Yesterday’s News

She put on a brave smile this morning, ate some French toast, and saddled up to go help teach at shul. Pretty Wife made sure our teen was snugly ensconced in her little Toyota, engine fired and seat belt on, before looking away from the window and letting the tears come. There are no safe … [more]

Outcomes

I’m not proud of any of this. As I write this, it’s National Coming Out Day. That’s not my day, any more than Black Lives Matter is my life. I don’t have any desire to dorksplain the meaning of situations, life circumstances, or events to which I am not party. More important to listen, I … [more]

Lucky Sod

Driven by the blessings of friends, a skift of lovely presents have dropped out of my sky lately. They keep thumping onto the porch, which is probably for the best – if they landed all over the yard, the damage’d be worse than Carolina summer hail. These have included a magical post card from the … [more]

Out of sync, out of season, and probably not for you

From ca. 2009: For a while, I’d hated going into Costco, but I was getting past that. It’s just, well… there’s all that harsh, white light. Tons of people, too many to watch, and confusing levels of background noise. And all those god-damned lights… did we talk about the lights? No way to tell who’s … [more]