My youngest daughter wakes me at 6 in the morning. It's still dark outside. “Mom’s dead,” she says. I wake up irritably and tell her, “Your Mom’s not dead. She’s in assisted living, but she’s not dead.” “She’s dead,” my daughter tells me again. “No, she’s...
Heaven repents from the cell I put you in My beautiful soul Does it hurt to trust me again? Is that why you keep me so afraid to begin…. …anything? Heaven Repents from the cell I put you in And Hell mourns the loss of your company The comforting swagger o...
“Eddie’s dead,” said the female voice on the other end of the line. My caller did not identify herself, but I recognized Emma Lawrence’s voice. She was engaged to my old friend Eddie Blake. “What happened, Emma?” I asked, dreading the answer. “He went pad...
Gardens are generally understood to be neutral ground. For all. Mortals. Immortals. Mankind and Monsters. Why else would so many myths feature them? Cannot get any more neutral than Nature. But what makes one a monster or a man? Why is mortality a thing a...
I The dim of dawn brightens to a resplendent sunrise. Church bells ring, announcing the Angelus. I rise and kneel at the side of my bed with a bowed head, Listening to songbirds as I pray to Mother Mary. II Sunrise gives way to daylight. I finish praying...
I’ve walked in darkness my whole life. Each day I wake up and wonder if today is the day I will slip away into the darkness – then resolve, like an alcoholic, that I will hold out for just one more day. Death is my addiction, and I work to hold it off eve...
“I’m sorry, I wish I had better news.” The doctor wears the face all doctors wear when delivering news no patient ever wanted to hear. “Do you have any questions?” I nod, then smile politely, unable to find the right words. How am I supposed to react? Wha...
no one thinks of solitude as violent but I feel like sometimes it wants to be doesn't silence ever get tired of being peaceful from witnessing so much? does it ever crave the violence of a scream like a lover's kiss? Lonely Alone Solitude is always equate...
“He will see you now,” the creature growled pointing towards an old oak door. I got up from my seat and made my way in front of it. This was it. It was finally time to make my case. I briefly ran through all my arguments in my mind. I knew I only had one...
Turning the key in the garage door, there was a satisfying click as it locked. His left hand held a claw hammer which was swung at it. It took three swipes to break the key. He nodded in satisfaction. “There, now we’re locked in,” he said, dropping the to...
It's always when the dust settles that another gust of wind blows it back up in the air. Just when I thought I was barely okay, I received a text from an ex. This wasn't necessarily uncommon for me but not for the reason you may think. I've always felt th...
March 1995 — Kenya A Fateful Decision I’d been in Africa for nine weeks; two very eventful months. In that relatively short time, I’d already undergone a multitude of emotions, enjoying some incredible highlights and experiencing a range of unfortunate es...
They say that war is hell, it is. It’s a hell I unwittingly chose. I was fifteen at the time. I lived in a little known northern town in England. Not much happened in my town. The men went to work down the mines, the women stayed at home. It was all quite...
Shock rushes through your very bones To rise and fall like waves of a restless sea Plunging your heart deep into the cavity of an abyss Where all those go – that are amiss You succumb to feeling numb The present now out of place No trace No hint...
No one can know any of what I’m about to tell, but still, I’m putting it out there. I can’t help myself, either in action or with placing dots out in the open where they can easily be connected if one were so inclined to link those dots together. Maybe I...
