Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
I am the oldest of three children. My brother Danny is a year younger than me, and we grew up, mostly, as tight comrades. We were a moderately happy family of evenly numbered four. I love even numbers. When I turn up the television volume, it must be by an Read more
I am watching pink streaks lighten the gray dawn, deepening and glowing as the minutes pass above silhouetted firs, brightness glowing from the bottom, skyward. I think about my mother, seated in her chair facing sliding glass doors to the porch, her face towards the light, keeping vigil, watching the Read more
I am in Santa Monica. It is a sunny April day. The temperature is 80 degrees. Perfect beach culture weather. Near the Pier and down Ocean Avenue, the beautiful Pacific view is overrun by the homeless. Mostly men, dressed in t-shirts, jeans, and slipshod sneakers. They hold half-crushed coffee cups Read more
The day after spending Christmas with family, I received a text message from a close relative. You are a self-centered piece of crap. Good riddance. You’re not welcome here ever again. Period. Everything was planned at our expense. What the fuck did I plan? What the fuck is everything? I Read more
Music enters my dream. It is distant, indistinct. Then, I am awake. I can still hear it. A guitar, one note over and over but changing. It is the middle of the night. I keep my eyes closed, trying to hold on to that flimsy layer of sleep out of Read more
Always I am with her every step I tag along attempt to let her know she’s not alone but a smile does not greet me when I appear around her only a sadness I can’t reverse for her as I put on display the shapeshift of her body; limited are Read more
I lost my shoes in Ecuador. But I lost Da’uud in the swamp. I remember how his long lashes blinked back dampness the day we were married, his borrowed clothes pressed, his hair too closely trimmed, everything scrubbed till it shone. His parents were quite pleased; my parents were too. Read more
Dear Baby, I don’t know if you will ever be real, but here are some things I want to say to you. I’ve never really wanted a child. Well, that’s not true. You are wanted. But the idea of having a child—the need to have a child—has never been part Read more