I was somewhere between ten and twelve when I sat, transfixed to the point of paralysis, watching my first full sunset. It's been so long ago, I no longer recall my exact age at the time or the date on the calendar. I do know it was summer, but after that, the details are a little fuzzy. With the fluid and phantasmal nature of time I observe, I ( Read more... )

I cook a frittata of an Mesoamerican flare. Coffee brews and I finish the last of my mourning tea. Keemun. There is already sense of accomplishment for the day, having mowed for the first time this season. Milarepa and Whstler kept me company amongst the trilling of humming birds cool mountain breezes ( Read more... )

It's hard to pinpoint exactly where the trouble started, but I like to blame it upon pangs of wanderlust, a once off-handed suggestion of picnicking, and lilacs. Shortly before or after my companion and I had gotten together, I'd spoke of the divinity of picnics with the incoming warmer weather of spring. After all, we'd both endured a long and ( Read more... )

"Did I tell you I'm seeing a shrink?" My father inquired.

This, of course, was peculiar way to start a conversation. For one, he seemed kind of thrilled about it. For two, I never imagined my father seeking the services of an alienist, being much more of the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps school of thought. My attention had certainly been ( Read more... )

The mourning was clear and crisp. There was a slight nip in the air, carried by the breeze, a residual of a day before's flurries. The light dusting of snow along the tiger striping of khaki and early spring grass was fading into phantasm even as it was being perceived. Not even a rumor of a cloud marred the turquoise blue sky. It was bright out, ( Read more... )

Rosemary Collins was a girl with short black hair who had moved with her family from the very heart of New York City. She smoked clove cigarettes and listened to bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode. But perhaps the most striking thing Kim remembered about their first encounter were her eyes; shimmering pools of liquid obsidian that reflected ( Read more... )

"Oh the pain-
I ain't seen the sun
since I don't know when,
The freaks come out at nine
and it's twenty to ten" -Skid Row ( Read more... )

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At one point, the mercury read negative thirty-two on the fahrenheit scale with a windchill of negative forty-seven. Not a fit night for monkey nor beast. All of us huddled in the parlor, near the fire. Tendrils of ice curled along the bottoms of the windows and the polar air seemed to seep through the thin, one-hundred thirty year old walls and ( Read more... )