-
Light breaks through the window. Warms my face. Wakes me. And I linger—between morning and night. Sleep and dream. In the hollow place. Where another night has gone and another day appears. I’m alive. But exhausted and empty. I look out the window. There are turkeys and deer sharing the gray field across the road.…
-
Birds ravage the feeders. Cedars are turning orange. And it worries me. My stomach grumbles, so I drink coffee. Breathe in the quiet. Let the energy that’s carried me this far rise and continue to educate me. I look out the window at the water, and there I am—chipping away at an icy lake that…
-
October 3, 2025 – 7:30 am Near 80 degrees the next couple days. That’s grand. I’ll enjoy it at the lake. Burn the last of the gas out of the waverunners. Toss a line into the water. Pretend to read from my lounge chair. Nap under the brim of my baseball cap. Oh, there’s work…
-
“Kali’s not nice,” he says. “That’s right,” Kali adds. She slides over on the booth seat. Moves away from me. “I’m a bitch, too. I just haven’t persuaded anyone I’m bitchy enough for them.” I lean forward. Rest my elbows on the table. Look into my glass. Stare into the beer until a foamy face…
-
an excerpt She holds the line between her thumb and forefinger. Lowers the squirming crawler into the dark green water. Watches it disappear between the bare blackened branches of someone’s discarded Christmas tree. Strands of dirty silver tinsel wave with the current as she considers all that could be down there. And why. Back at…
-
I thought a starry sky might save me. Five-thirty. Just dragging trash to the road. For men to take to wherever it goes. Under us. Out to sea. Into the air. Outer space maybe. First a slow plane with blinking lights—a dinosaur in the sky—carrying passengers. Everyone with plans and places to be, but no…
-
Yesterday. Still summer. But I took the dock out anyway. Cool water. Light waves. My buddy, Astro the Husky, watched from the porch. Bluejays and chickadees kept busy at the feeders. Neighbors two houses down grilled meat. Not many boats out. Long stretches of cottony clouds across the sky. And I only swore a few…
-
From Infidelity This excerpt comes from the story “without a fire” in my book Infidelity. A moment of winter stillness, where warmth and emptiness live side by side. We’ve been skiing all day. Cross country on a sunny, warm February day. Across the fields, down through the hardwoods into the evergreens of the swamp then…
-
Sun on its way down, giving one last burst of hot light before it moves away for the day. Into another time zone. For other people. But I’m not concerned much about other people. Other time zones. Not now. Not today. Not lately. All there is and needs to be is this small world at…
-
an excerpt from the short story, Saving Turtles “None of it matters because it’s life. Be a clown. Be a husband. Be a wife. Be a drunk. None of it matters because we’re supposed to keep crossing roads. We’re supposed to keep moving on. The center of life is about location and timing. Like my…
-
September 1, 2025 – 7:24 am Morning’s too early. All wrapped up yet. Not enough blanket. Too much blanket. Numb arms. Achy legs. Toothache hips. Nightmares. I need the sleep that makes a man thoughtful, motivated—smart enough to know when to keep his mouth, eyes, and ears shut. Another sunrise like this, orange and pink…
-
Saturday – August 30th, 2025 – 7:55 am It can go on like this for a long time. Putting together casual observations. Gut to brain. Heart to vein. Paper to pen. And still, I struggle with penmanship. I recognize—finally—it’s part of my process. Journaling fills the well. I sort paper, plastic, and cardboard at the…
-
We walked the cemetery. Read names. Dates. Heard feet against a soccer ball. High school boys practicing. The little alpha males calling out. Playing on the other side of the chain link fence. Crows have been following me all day. I woke at the cottage with them there. Cawing from treetops. Perched on the neighbor’s…
-
Up to the city siren.Out of bed quickto survey the situation.As if there’sanythingI can doto save us. Wind driveswaves of rain.Trees and wires sway.Lawn chairs tumble.Bird feeders swing.A garbage can rollsdown the street. In the basement,we wait.I touch the wide beamsthat hold us every day.Rough edges rebuildmy confidence.This hundred-year-old househas weathered plenty.It will outlast me.Maybe…
-
No rage here today. Only dewy grass. Chickadees. Lake Huron air. Was there ever a reason to be mad? Frustration makes us flounder, fall, fuck up. A thoughtful, calculated approach is what we need. Subtle impact, over and over again, like waves rocking a ship. The momentum builds, water rises, and the big machine is…
-
August 17, 2025 – 7:44 pm Go to a CAKE concert. Don’t feel young. Don’t feel old. Just the right age. Not screaming incoherently into the void of noise. Not still, unaffected. But attentive. Swaying with the music. Singing the hits. Happy to see my wife and daughter dancing, smiling, excited. And people of all…
-
Deer in the field. Crows on the crooked steeple. Birds in the leafy branches of the cemetery’s big maple tree. This simple life. Where today I’ll mow the lawn. Use the old green push mower that I found in the basement of the church when I moved here three years ago. A solid machine. Powered…
-
August 8, 2025 – 7:38 am Thunder just rattled this little house. Our cottage on the lake. It’s sturdy though—concrete. So, any noise came from improvements—vinyl windows, light fixtures, wall furnace. The new stuff—replacements and upgrades—are nice but never as good as the original. I’m sure other homes are shaking more this morning. It started…
-
August 7, 2025 – 7:03 am It’s fun. All of it.The seriousness. The light.Phony friends. Deep-set acquaintances. Family pieces.The bubbling below the surface that we walk day after day. There’s no stopping this. Not now. It will end by its own volition.We’ll hit a wall.Slip down a hole.Get zapped up to the sky.Or put our…
-
Make it original. Or not. People like what they like. But I’ll leave the garbage to garbage-lovers. They’ll eat it. Lick it up. Love it. Consume one another. Go round-and-round. Create content for the sake of creating content so they can fill their gaping holes—be heard and seen, liked, liked, liked—and followed. But sooner than…