Tiger, Tiger

My nephew’s arms are softer than a mink, and definitely softer than every baby’s arm you have touched. He is two. His arm skin has stretched out some, but it’s still no rougher than when I first held him, when he was two months old. Last night he yanked his dove soft arm inside his […]

Splitting Hairs

This week I was reading about the Arian controversy. These nuts in the 4th century spent years and years trying to firmly ascertain whether Jesus, the sorta founder of their religion, was a human or a God or a Godlike thing. The cutest part of the debate was the way the poor Holy Spirit was […]

Righteousness

Every time I hear a Fiona Apple song, I remember and miss my righteous indignation. My love of righteous indignation may have been my most passionate and long-term relationship, in fact. And for returning home, after a quarrel, a bitter, wistful song is just right. You never loved me. Use me. It will always be […]

The Creature

There are many, many things that happen I would never write here. Some bits are too delicate. If I opened up my hands, they would blow away. I would lose them. And many of my judgments are too painful for the interested parties. Too painful, and also ridiculously temporary, as fallible as all human conclusions. There’s no sense in upsetting people with one moment’s verdict. They might come out not guilty the next time, and then nobody’s better off.

I do like to pluck up a weed in my brain and try to praise it. Or smack down an insect of my own dervish craziness. Nonfiction is good for examination. Maybe someone else can look at it, as awed as I am by its construction and its invasiveness.

Fiction is different.