"Can you tell a story just in dialogue?" "Well, of course, what kind of question is that?--- Aren't all stories a kind of dialogue?" "When you say it like that---" "Well, think of it: stories are meant to be told--- meant to be spoken. And if you have a storyteller--" "Yes. Yes. I see now. … Continue reading A Story in Dialogue
Privileged Person Free
All Jaden wanted was a coffee. Black. No sugar. Straight caffeine-jacked, high-octane java. Jaden was one of those people. The talk to me before coffee, and I'll knock your teeth out, people. Jaden was also one of those people. The I have my favorite coffee shop, and it's everyone else's favorite coffee shop, but I … Continue reading Privileged Person Free
History-Blind
The river gathers the PA announcer's voice and propels it across town toward me. The sound collects, echoing, beneath the empty metal canopy over the ice rink. For a moment, the voice bounces around the vacant concrete as if a phantom hockey game is being played. "Corning goal number blah-blah. Tanner Somebody." I chuckle to … Continue reading History-Blind
Witness Beauty
The rain comes gently, the clatter of a million footsteps dancing across my roof. A lazy dance, unhurried. The birds roost in the spruce tree, ruffling their feathers. A cardinal squeaks, cocking his vermillion crest this way and that. The afternoon lies drowsy and chilly on the hillside. I watch the birds pecking in my … Continue reading Witness Beauty
A Garden’s Legacy
Sinking your hands-- a shovel, a rake--- into dirt feels so simple. So solid in a shifting world. The earth turns over; its dark belly gleams toward the sky. Spadeful by spadeful, you shift the contour of things. You dig the hole. You plant the tree. Your hands smooth the dirt and tuck the roots … Continue reading A Garden’s Legacy
Unraveling Time
The line of people loops from the casket through the viewing room, past the front door, and through the second viewing room, where it angles and turns back on itself again in a narrow hallway. Outside, the wind skirls in the lavender twilight and slings the newly budded branches of a flowering tree back and … Continue reading Unraveling Time
The Small Fish Story
Trying to get a story published feels a bit like fishing. You try to find a promising stream (agent/publisher/magazine). You toss out your line--- watching it wink past the sun and drift out across the watery glaze--- and then you wait. "Here, fishy. Come on, fishy. Don't you like my little worm?" Some people are … Continue reading The Small Fish Story
Retracing
We retrace our steps sometimes, and the remembered magic isn't where we left it. You speculate--- what makes a special moment so unique? What endows a place with its aura? And if you returned to that restaurant on a drizzily April night one year later, would the same stardust glisten in the streetlights? Would you … Continue reading Retracing
Hay Bales in a Pond
We fix the GPS to avoid highways and weave our way out of town. It's an easy way to discover adventure on a lazy Saturday. We turn onto roads we've never driven before and travel alongside a creek swollen with the spring thaw. The further up the hill we ride, we pass three--- maybe four--- … Continue reading Hay Bales in a Pond
The Difference
I walked up the hill through the rain. An ordinary walk on an ordinary day. My legs felt strong. The air was crisp in my lungs. Suddenly, I looked up and saw the raindrops dripping off dark tree limbs. I saw the watercolor gauze of the treetrunks against the white hillside. And I realized--- I'll … Continue reading The Difference
Seeking Prose 