“You’re him, aren’t you?” asks the woman in the seat across from Daniel. A subway station zooms by outside the train windows. A flash of color and then black again. Daniel sinks lower in his seat and casts his glance toward the half dozen people littered through the empty car. The motion of the train … Continue reading Reality v Entertainment
#creative
Like Salt
White rooftops in the morning. Scatter of white across the grass like salt tossed by a careless hand. Why does the sight of something so cold make us feel warm inside? ©️2021 Katie Baker I hope all who celebrated it had a Happy Thanksgiving. It has been a hectic few days for me, and I'm … Continue reading Like Salt
When Moms Explode
Post-pandemic family dinners have become dangerous and shaky ground. Allison feels the anxiety coat her bowels before she even gets out of bed. Thanksgiving used to be her favorite, but now with multiple families and multiple worldviews and every bit of life a hot-button issue, she just wants to pull the covers over her head. … Continue reading When Moms Explode
Maybe It’s Strange
Maybe it’s strange, but I really don’t mind the darker mornings in the fall. There’s something cozy about the dark pressed up against my window panes, and the way it makes the light inside my house seem more golden. I enjoy the extended mornings because in the summer, I’m usually awake as soon as the … Continue reading Maybe It’s Strange
Never Come Up For Air
I wish sometimes I could just live in a book and never come up for air. I think of all the stolen moments of my childhood, holed up in my bedroom diving into worlds of espionage, 18th century Britain-- even worlds made up from myth, legend, and hearty imagination. I remember sunny afternoons on a … Continue reading Never Come Up For Air
New Religion
Are we just the sum of everything we’ve ever said? Does this include the angry things? The drunken confessions. Distracted outbursts. And misery fueled rants, colored by depression, pain, or anxiety. If everything we’ve ever said is sitting in the docket, which of us would receive acquittal from our judges? If the real you or … Continue reading New Religion
October Memory
The October colors have come to full display. Russet, ochre, lime, and amber. Misty morning fog hangs above the hills and sprinkles the windshield opaque, like a stained glass window, painted by nature, colored by time. Speeding through the fog and rain. Empty road. Full horizon, hilltops multipling to the edge of sight. A half … Continue reading October Memory
Cultural Education
A teacher sits at the entrance of the school. Before her stands a table on which a book lays open. Behind her, the facade of the building frowns down from dull windows, reflecting a dull sky. The door to the school is shut and black--a heavy steel set of doors on which no glimmer of … Continue reading Cultural Education
The Overwhelming Moment of Now
I cannot shut off the voices.
Scene from Eden & Ingrid: Party Preparations
The McKays gave a party every year at the beginning and end of summer, along with other lesser festivities book-ended between. At the beginning and ending parties the Who’s Who of society appeared, making the nobility of Stillbank look like unbecoming peons. A week of preparations went into both parties, but there was a fervor about the season opener that could not be paralleled.
Seeking Prose 