Be Cautious

Our backyard, other than the patio area, was politically zoned to children. We were administratively, and physically, its masters. My dad put up a swingset, which was never properly anchored. When you pumped a swing hard, or got a trio of folks on the glider, one or two legs would thump out of the mud, […]

South Seas

The neurology PA is not much of a negotiator. “No coffee, dairy, or alcohol,” she says.

Straight and Narrow

A crane is poised, one dramatically elegant leg up, one down. Right in the way that we expect free animals to be right, right with itself, and the world, and the now. “Ortho” right: straight, correct, orthodox. On Saturday I saw this crane sculpture, about eight inches high. Dark metal. A neck straighter than nature […]

Anonymous

The last time I was in print this much, Clinton was president. Taxes were high, and the living was easy. I had a little underground newspaper in high school, and it was almost an ideal gig. Writing my diatribes and little reviews, then copying it with babysitting money, and leaving copies in the bathroom and […]