2. The house across the street looks older than any house on the block. The palm tree must have been over 50ft high when he cut it down. I don't remember if his mom moved out or died. Last year a lover moved in and things changed. He put in a new front landscape. I could see candles lit inside. Ambiance, and laughter.He left the windows upstaris open on hot summer nights, and I could see their shadows on the ceiling making love. Last Spring, the electric box caught on fire. Firetrucks ca...

Moving Night/Exodus 1. The House across the Street The house across the street Once filled with babies and Smells of dinner on the stove Stands dark and empty. Behind dark and expressionless windows The father paced the living room Arguing with his wife The family troubled and full of fear. Not knowing what else to do But pack up and leave. The statue of angels with broken wings Left on the front walkway. The mark of the Angel of Death Above the lintel Who sneaks in and out at night Leaving...

Little Black Box “My family is so messed up,” thought Mary while steering her car through the traffic on the freeway towards San Francisco. She moved over to the slow lane and held her hand in front of her face shielding her eyes from the morning sun, and turned her head sideways to avoid the bright light staring in her eyes, but nothing worked, she couldn’t see. The back of her eyeballs felt like they were burning in the white light. She could not stand it any more, so she...

 Little Black Box “My family is so messed up,” thought Mary while steering her car through the traffic on the freeway towards San Francisco. She moved over to the slow lane and held her hand in front of her face shielding her eyes from the morning sun, and turned her head sideways to avoid the bright light staring in her eyes, but nothing worked, she couldn’t see. The back of her eyeballs felt like they were burning in the white light. She could not stand it any more, ...

THE TUBE  June had gotten out of the shower and was wrapping a towel around her when the phone rang. Karen, her sister, had called her up and started whining- the way she did when she was little-that she was mad about this girl, Tania, who had this thingamajig- some tube she needed to run the pump in her swimming pool, and she wanted it back.. Karen said Tania had the thing for about a year or six months- she wasn’t sure. She said she was tired of this… and blah…blah&...

The Maiden’s Heart The Mountain in the Lake When I was younger, my life was full of promise that was slowly chipped away by the society I lived in. I was pigeon holed. Kept. Defiled. Reviled and finally- hunted. I escaped. My life is a joke. I try to make sense of what happened, how it happened, why it happened, but I don’t know how. I used to think I was smart but lately, not so much. I often stare off wondering why I lived. I suppose Darwin had something to do with it, but I wouldn’t say I...

Connect-the-Dots Mom She was a good wife, a good mother, a good sister. What she was bad at was life. It had never been particularly good to her. She felt it was all a lie, the marriage, the kids, the life she had to live to please everybody except herself. She got lost in the equation. No one seemed to notice. They were being taken care of- very well mind you- by her. Yet no one took care of her except for half a day on Mother’s Day- and even then she had a mess to clean up, or dinner to coo...

Sweet. Sick. Makes the mind spin.

Loneliness: one egg in the pan.

THE BIRDS FELL OUTTA THE SKY Well, to answer your first question, I been here I guess seven, eight years. The first year we moved in here was all right. I was looking for carpentry work, and well- just then the housing market caved in and we had no more money, so we just stayed put. Real put- like stuck in the mud. The truck’s axel broke. I had two flat tires and broke my nose when the damn tire iron stuck. I leaned on it real good. It gave out and smacked me right in the nose. See here? Got ...