Creative Nonfiction

The Pale King

An hour before dusk the birds start going bananas. Clicking their tongues, chirping, tweeting. The pollen is like lime-green cocaine covering everything. I get to the park so early it’s still dark and the little streams reflect the pale light… Read More ›

Sunday sermon

I went outside and sprayed coyote urine on the tulips to keep the deer and rabbits away. I don’t know if it’s coyote urine but it smells like hell. I don’t know how they get it in a bottle either…. Read More ›

Double time

In mid-May Lily graduated from the boarding school in Utah and we flew into Las Vegas and rented a van to move her things home. I asked if she could start the process before we got there. Then I helped… Read More ›

Head GAMES

When the singer of the 1970s band Foreigner Lou Gramm sings the song Head Games he puts the emphasis on the word GAMES like he’s angry. I get it, I played head games too. Like the night Susannah E- came… Read More ›

Post to 1970s me

I want the innocence of the 1970s again. Of rollerskating to disco music as a kid. Roller coasters, carnival food, the Jersey shore. Fireworks displays, sidewalk chalk, the ice cream man. I miss the feel of an old phone, a… Read More ›

The you you are now

Sometimes when I’m walking the trail in the early morning dark I’ll sense motion and realize there’s a large deer crossing my path. Dawn said there’s been coyotes attacking people in Bellevue and I should carry a cudgel. Maybe a… Read More ›