Some Place Like Smoke Hole

Some Place Like Smoke Hole

“Smoke Hole Historic Marker” by Jimmy Emerson, DVM is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 In the fall, we go camping; we drive for five hours to get to Smoke Hole, West Virginia, even though there are plenty of campsites around Baltimore, even though there are beach...
Summers on Ridge Avenue

Summers on Ridge Avenue

“Everybody’s Records” by Koocheekoo is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 I drank iced lattes outside Everybody’s Recordsin the first muggy Cincinnati summer that I pretendedto like coffee. Thought it made me older. Boughtthe Black Keys vinyl with the fried...
All He Could Do Was Hold His Hand

All He Could Do Was Hold His Hand

Which his father did when the balloon string slipped from his fingers. Which was weird. His father had never held his hand in public before. Years later he wondered if his father wanted to keep him that day from floating off, too. At the time, though, they stood...
Venice Boulevard, March 2019

Venice Boulevard, March 2019

It was the before-times,as we like to say.Before the return of the drought.Before losspiled on lossafter loss. The late afternoon shone goldenthrough my dusty windshield.My teeth vibratedwith the boomof someone else’s musicas I waited for the lightto change. And then ...
This Is Not a Love Poem

This Is Not a Love Poem

Photo by Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock.com the same way the curvaceous tan can-can leg narrowing to a stiletto-ish tip in Magritte’s painting is not a pipe, especially when you look at it sideways, but mostly because, despite its trick of highlights, it lacks a dimension...