We stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching Phyllis eat the mouse. Normally diminutive, she had a wild look now, jowls besmirched and wet. We listened as she chewed, and watched as she gagged-down nearly all of it, leaving… Read More ›
postaday
When plants and animals realize they’re unwanted
I stopped caring about my houseplants when Lily was born. It dawned on me, why do we keep carrying these things around? They looked ratty, and left stains on the window sill. One by one I started thinning them out:… Read More ›
The Comfort Zone
The instructor drew a circle on the whiteboard, said This is the Comfort Zone. There’s no risk of failure here because you know the job, but there’s no development, either. Then he drew a circle around the first one: This… Read More ›
Man wrestles tree, loses
Two dying fruit trees in the front lawn. Both leaning over, pulling on the green tape, the support poles. Scratching the top of my back when I’m trying to cut the goddamned grass on the tractor. Tufts of moss on… Read More ›
Prism
First sunny morning in Seattle, all year. I rediscover our yard, the abandoned shed at the back of the property. Roof caved-in beneath fallen cottonwood, can’t get close enough to see what’s inside. I could take back all the blackberry… Read More ›
Nature, Stirring
The morning light cuts through the trees on the dew-wet grass. The pine boughs are dripping, the ground is stirring: the jerky motion of squirrels digging, leaving scraps. Dawn sees it first: it looks like a dog coming down the… Read More ›
Stranger Than Fiction
The guy who cuts my hair has been reading about Synchronicity, something I had only associated with the band The Police, until yesterday. In his example, a good friend of his has just passed away. He was visiting her in… Read More ›
Little Stevey and the stolen goods
I discovered at a young age I was good at stealing. As a bright, normal-looking 10 year-old, I could walk into a store smiling, say hi, and walk out with a coat full of baseball cards, candy, cap guns, Playboys,… Read More ›
Listening to the likes
If you want to write for others, it’s important they like what you write. You can argue they may not know what they like, or you can lead them somewhere new, but in the end, the customer is always right,… Read More ›
Bad Jobs Make Good Stories
The Green Study issued a writing challenge this week, to blog about the worst job you ever had. This is my warm-up. The problem is, for any bad job I’ve had, I got something good out of it. I got… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 