The Winter of Our Contentment The bedroom window is open and cold wind turns the curtains into morning tides. I toss aside the thick blankets to escape my bed's furnace. Then I breathe, breathe through the freeze. Sometimes, it's good to shiver on purpose.
His Obituary When you're the aging adult who, as a child, attended dozens of funerals and wakes, then every death reminds you of every other death. At the crosswalk, in the supermarket, bookstore, restaurant, gas station, traffic jam, and coffee shop, you find yourself holding your breath because you're afraid of which loved one or beloved stranger will die next.
Nocturne The mosquito flies so close to my eye that it eclipses the moon.
Home At the front door, our family's shoes are strewn like a pride of lions asleep and shaded from the sun.
Table Talk Honor your apple, honor your sweet onion, honor your venison, honor your glass of milk, honor your lettuce leaf, honor your slice of cheese, honor your rice, and honor your bread because, from our cradle to our final meal on our final table, it's a thousand thousand deaths that keep us fed.
Opposite World Sometimes, the lamb is more dangerous than the wolf and the hummingbird more deadly than the hawk. Keep an eye on the honey bees that gather hive by hive. Be wary of the blue whale that sings for peace. Sometimes, it's the graceful ones who have the most blood beneath their talons and the most tender flesh between their teeth.
I'm reminded of that corny parable hanging on the wall in every Christian grandmother's house about a man asking God why there was only one set of footprints in the sand when there had been two. And God answering that was when He was carrying the man. I'm not a believer but maybe the universe sent you that fish and heart.
Wow. Thank you Sherman. Opposite world has quite the power.
The Obituary and Matthew Perry. I once heard this anonymous dude say
“Alcoholics are people who generate love but are unable to express it.”
It seemed so true in Mr Perry’s case.
Happy Halloween.