I grew up in Detroit in a big Catholic family in a big old house. I was the seventh child. We belonged to St.Mary's of Redford Parish. By the time I was in seventh grade, our school was integrated, or in the process thereof. The Parish and neighborhoods were changing. Blacks lived next to Whites.... Continue Reading →
I know many introverts. I walk on the edge of introversion myself, and most people who know me, scoff at the idea. "You? An introvert? What?" But those who know me well, know that yes, I am, actually, and happy to have come to grips with this aspect of my personality that I grappled with... Continue Reading →
Have I been asleep? Just hitting the snooze alarm? Over and over and over. For years? I see my girls passionately being activists. Where did I go? Things I rallied for as a young woman were obtained. Not everything. Not perfection. By far. But so much so that maybe I sat down. Maybe I went to... Continue Reading →
A foot of snow has fallen. Or more. The world carries that post-snowstorm quiet. As if the snow pulled down all the noise and chaos. Lay it on the ground. Covered it in soft, calm, white. And let it go to sleep. I don’t want to shovel. I don’t want the snow plows to... Continue Reading →
Having someone's hands in your mouth is one of the most unfortunate, and memorable, experiences of a lifetime. Whether it frightens you to death, or simply reminds you of but another tedium of modern medicine, when that practitioner dons those nightmare blue latex gloves, wiggles their fingers into them tightly, and casually says 'open wide,'... Continue Reading →
I hate snot. Thick wet gray green globs at the edge of, or protruding from, a nose will make me gag or heave far before poop or blood or bad beans in the fridge. If there is a tongue inching toward said globs, or making contact, I will, without a doubt, lose my groceries. Granted,... Continue Reading →
It's rare here on the mountain. Fog. Not like Detroit. So many foggy days, foggy walks to school. Foggy drives. In 1979 my best friend Bridget and I drove in a fog so dense and large and lasted so long that we came to know it, and we named it; Fred.We were on a road... Continue Reading →
The first winter storm rolled in yesterday. It rained all evening, and into the night. Storms like this warm the air a bit, and I slept with my window open, listening to the rain all night long. My high desert mountain life takes me, every day, away from the wet lake life I lived in... Continue Reading →
Has the world always been in overfire? Like my wood stove after I stoke it with well-seasoned cedar and pine, hefty logs on top of crisp sheaths of aspen kindling. I pile those atop a foundation of twigs that I obsessively collect from my yard throughout the year. The girls hated when I shouted 'pine... Continue Reading →
The girls were asked this question quite often by their once estranged father. And often, for someone who disappeared to the far corners of the earth, of depression, or both, and surfaced randomly every several months, I suppose, means a few times. And a few times, in the course of the years in which the... Continue Reading →
pocket poet 