Category Archives: death

Song to the dark lands

Posted on September 22, 2018 by

When I look through the trees at the park near our house they are all pretty much the same as when we started coming here—like me, a bit older but still the same, mostly unnoticed. And the kids were so … Continue reading →

Posted in death, prose, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

The soul dies first

Posted on September 20, 2018 by

At the end of it, the wick is either cut too short or it’s so long, it falls on its side and can’t stand up, won’t light. And so much wax left, in the shape of what remains. This body … Continue reading →

Posted in death, prose | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Rainer Maria Rilke made me write this

Posted on September 8, 2018 by

The afternoon sky looks pregnant but it’s too early to tell. And the tall trees reach to tickle its belly with stick fingers drawn by a kid. The dishwasher and drier are running, and there’s a pot on the stove … Continue reading →

Posted in death, prose, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Walking down the unlit hallway of life

Posted on August 22, 2018 by

Outside in the mid-afternoon there was just the sound of birds and kids and cars going by. It was too hot for anything, everyone hanging onto the edges by the shade. I’d gotten up when the church bells struck six … Continue reading →

Posted in death, Memoir, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

A jarful of days

Posted on July 30, 2018 by

In the corner of my yard in the mid-afternoon heat in my hammock with Pablo Neruda between my legs, my glasses off, bare-chested and unbathed, I think about death: my body a lump in a sack swinging here: all this, … Continue reading →

Posted in death, poetry, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Is, does, can, could: resolutions, one July

Posted on July 1, 2018 by

It’s gotten so that I can’t leave the windows open at night or it will get too cold. This morning it was 60 in the house and Dawn was in her sweater, cranky, like it was my fault. She’s at … Continue reading →

Posted in death, Memoir, parenting, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Wilhelm’s mausoleom

Posted on May 29, 2018 by

I stopped by the dry cleaners, then the car wash — vacuumed out the pollen, the cottonwood, pine needles and dandruff, the nail clippings and dirt, then gathered wood to make a fire later, shook off the spiders from the … Continue reading →

Posted in death, Memoir, musings, prose, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments