Chris, Dave and I were wedged into a one-bedroom cottage above a Texaco off Division Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The CD function “Repeat” was still a novelty to us in 1992, and we put the record Blood on by… Read More ›
Memoir
Spirit Dog and Screw Face
Ben was a Golden who lived on a farm down the road. We called him Spirit Dog because he had to cross the highway to get to our house, and never got hit. Emmet was a mutt who got abandoned… Read More ›
Acceptance
This was supposed to be fun, about the enjoyment of writing. It’s not, when you think about it too much. Yesterday I got to do Yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. She had us do Tree pose… Read More ›
Beginning
The coffee maker is a riot of sound, of gargling: it’s the Fourth of July climax when it sounds off and beeps three times, declaring it’s done. I’ve been through the ritual that starts by the light of the closet,… Read More ›
The Specter of Failure
By the end of 2011, I had gotten really down on work. I let my beard go long, such that I was receiving comments from co-workers, and had put on a few pounds. Yoga was harder than ever, and rare… Read More ›
English 413
This was a senior-level English poetry class I got into as a sophomore. We met in a log cabin on-campus and sat in a circle, facing each other, as we read our poems and critiqued one another. One night we… Read More ›
Lies
When I met my friend Pete, he asked if I could sing. I lied and said yes, I did – which was part truth and part lie. The truth was I did sing – but whether I could sing was… Read More ›
The Dénouement
I am a big fan of putting things away. I even like putting away Christmas decorations, and if it’s been a bad Christmas, I’m not as gentle. This is the beginning of our German denouement, and soon, my sabbatical denouement…. Read More ›
Dick Mack’s
I finally had my quintessential Irish pub moment today: a windy, misty Sunday in Dingle. Dawn and Charlotte went back to the B&B in hopes that Charlotte would nap there, which left me and Lily on our own down in… Read More ›
Go Mall
We are in Irish-speaking country now, on the north side of county Kerry, near the ever-popular “Ring of Kerry,” which we will avoid. “Go Mall” means slow down in Irish, and it’s painted on the roads in many places. Despite… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 