The memoir, the story of your life, is an object of questionable value. You hold it in your hands, shake, listen: what’s inside? Is there a lock? Does it open? What’s it for? You could take it to someone who… Read More ›
William Pearse writer
Discreet Music | December 30, 2017
Whole Foods grocery store (Redmond, Washington) I sat outside the Whole Foods eating lunch, reading, waiting for my car to get done at the Les Schwab next door. Donnie returned the Patti Smith book I gave him and I was… Read More ›
Discreet Music | December 28, 2017
Lufthansa flight 490, Frankfurt to Seattle (Somewhere between Iceland and Canada) The moon was just some broken tooth or pink stone, the way it sat in the clouds looking in at us. We stayed at an airport hotel and enjoyed… Read More ›
No Christmas in Germany (26 Dezember)
Eberhard put school pictures of the girls in a pack of cigarettes and we said goodbye, gave him the last of the turkey in a Ziploc bag. When he leaves, mom always goes to the kitchen sink window where they… Read More ›
No Christmas in Germany (24 Dezember)
24 Dezember, 17 Besigheim, Baden-Württemberg Early morning, happy snoring sounds in bed with Dawn—then mom and I by the banquette watching the birds gather outside by her window. We stayed up late playing Dan Fogelberg songs on mom’s tablet, Dawn… Read More ›
No Christmas in Germany (23 Dezember)
My pants don’t fit, and we can’t get the lyrics right to any of the Steely Dan songs. Cooked onion hangs like phlegm from the lips of Eberhard, the seafood gumbo I made: we were so full from lunch, mom… Read More ›
No Christmas in Germany (21 Dezember)
This month I’ve been featuring journal-style stories from our time visiting my mom in a small German village in Baden-Württemberg. The series is named after a post from 2014, before we moved here for nine months. We had to leave… Read More ›
21 Dezember (Song for Solstice)
21 Dezember 17, Donnerstag “For the shortest day” Some days fall through the cracks — most days aren’t worth saving, but it’s OK there isn’t much room.
No Christmas in Germany (20 Dezember)
Chocolates with brandy inside, cheese, special cakes from Saxony. Taking pictures of the cats before they took down the tree. The tree, the one mom got the year John was sick and couldn’t come down for Christmas, so she set… Read More ›
No Christmas in Germany (18 Dezember)
We went back to Colmar, the small French town with the killer Christmas markets, but it wasn’t the same trying to recreate our first visit, when it was just me and Dawn. But if you’re a 10-year-old, on the cusp… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 