It was not any awakening of the large, not so much as that, only a stepping back from the petty. ~from "The Promise" by Jane Hirshfield I have been feeling myself again, which is to say productive and filled with purpose. I have been positive and happy, much more than I had been. I am... Continue Reading →
at night, under the circle of light
At night, under the circle of light from a cheap metal lamp clamped to the kitchen table, she sits with paper and a pen and pretends she's not afraid. She's trying to live like a writer. ~From the introduction to "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros I hate this part of life, but... Continue Reading →
It’s been an hour
It's been an hour since thunder boomed and the boys skittered into my bedroom, into my bed, under the covers. Since then it rained and rained and rained and then the clouds pushed off each other and the sun resumed its role. But before that happened, Holden intertwined his fingers and said a prayer, even... Continue Reading →
incubus cd
There is this little thing David Sedaris wrote--the introduction to a collection of short stories--and in it he describes candidly and masterfully what it is to try to fit in and then to finally, after trying to be someone else, develop a confidence in his own opinion, which is what coming into ourselves is, if... Continue Reading →
different kinds of quiet
There are different kinds of quiet, but we talk about it as if there's only one. You know how Eskimos have all those different words for snow? I want different words for different types of quiet. There is a still, which isn't exactly quiet but is calm. It's birds fluttering in the trees and wind... Continue Reading →
writing as a constant
The thing about writing is that it isn't constant. I say that to mean both it is and it isn't. Constantly, we are in the process of writing. Writers are observing the world around us in great detail, documenting it in notebooks or on receipts or napkins or in blogs or on Twitter. We are... Continue Reading →
writing on the prairie
Last week, Jen and I were in the panhandle of Nebraska, which is the Northwestern corner, almost Wyoming or South Dakota. She was there on an instructorship, me on a scholarship, and I tell you, it felt like being celebrities. Although I suppose everywhere we go together, her and me, it feels like that. We... Continue Reading →
solving our riddles
If sadness is contagious--and I think maybe it is--I'm afraid I gave it to my son. Often people who aren't sad think the people who are sad are only that way because of things that happened to them. That because of horrible things, they are sad. And sometimes, maybe that's true. But also, there is... Continue Reading →
voice
I was not rebelling by smoking dope or drinking, I was testing ideas. I was experimenting with voice, what I could say and still be heard in an atmosphere of prescribed truths. I remember the first time I questioned something I heard at church out loud. I must've been around twelve. I remember the answer... Continue Reading →
holly pelesky 