Tag Archives: Pittsburgh

Dead Souls | Field notes from the Pacific coast

Posted on June 8, 2017 by

This is a series of posts I started in late May and plan to continue for 40 days, with a goal of hitting 50,000 words by July 5 (now +25% complete!). It’s inspired by a three-day solo trek on the … Continue reading →

Posted in humor, identity, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Winter’s playground is closed for the season

Posted on March 29, 2017 by

If you were to look back through a hole at your life, if it were like a kaleidoscope when held to the light, the days would fold in on themselves and combine, and collapse to form a frame called “your … Continue reading →

Posted in death, poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Factotum (for Peel)

Posted on February 15, 2017 by

After college I moved to the beach and got a job delivering pizzas; my friend Peel moved to New York and dabbled in homelessness and then on to Portland, where he fell in with a group of shoplifters who returned … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

The lines we used to find one another

Posted on October 4, 2016 by

I went for the toilet but because it was dark I didn’t see the seat was up and nearly fell in. Mike and Kim renovated their house since I’d lived there, so it was now easier to get to the … Continue reading →

Posted in writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Look what phase the moon got into

Posted on July 14, 2016 by

I still have the handwritten note from the guy who refinished our hardwoods when we moved into this house in 2010: how to clean them, the right ratio of vinegar to water, don’t over-wet the mop. His name was Roy … Continue reading →

Posted in musings, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

‘Is evil something you are, or something you do?’

Posted on November 5, 2015 by

We’ve hung a roadside atlas of Scotland over the door in our flat, draped there like something we shot and dragged in for drying — it looks so big on paper, but you can see much of it we’ve covered … Continue reading →

Posted in travel, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

The importance of turning back

Posted on August 29, 2015 by

In the first draft of my memoir, which I left behind in the States because it has a bad energy objects sometimes can, I began with a scene from 1993 that traces the start of my career to its source, … Continue reading →

Posted in writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments