He Came in from the Fog Where the Island Used to Be

He Came in from the Fog Where the Island Used to Be

“Cribstone bridge to Bailey Island” by WorldIslandInfo.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Rose awoke that morning in midcoast Maine to a fog that covered the streets and blanketed the homes: a fog so thick that breathing felt closer to swimming or drowning in...
Lullaby in a Drugstore

Lullaby in a Drugstore

I learned of Whitney Houston’s death while shuffling through a Chicago Walgreens at night. The red-and-white world and the red-and-white drugstore took pause as the greatest songs fell away, their notes dripping down city storm drains. My belly was a basketball;...
Banana Kush on the Rocks

Banana Kush on the Rocks

“Sioux Passage” by Larry Mills is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Banana Kush on the Rocks, triple threat, a treble hook, dripping fentanyl, cast like a spell cast backwards, the Missouri River will dizzy you down, up, moves invisibly, buttery, the ghost of Ginger...
Alumbrar

Alumbrar

“Moonrise over the dock” by Arturo Donate is licensed under CC BY 2.0 My family and I are lined up on a pier at La Parguera, one of three bays in Puerto Rico where bioluminescence blooms. Within this sphere of yellow-washed lamplight, a bubble of people isolated...
A Brief Treatise on How to Begin Anything Worthwhile

A Brief Treatise on How to Begin Anything Worthwhile

Looking up Sheldon Creek. Effectuated by making it this far without submerging my boots once in river water—deft side-skirting, hanging on of root as glacial braids of the Toklat guzzled Away and North, to Yukon or further mysteries, ten feet below where I clung to...
On Rainy Nights I Smell Shoe Leather

On Rainy Nights I Smell Shoe Leather

Photo by George Sheldon / Shutterstock.com Mothers should smell of homemade chicken noodle soup or Chanel No 5 or windowsill pies. I remember you in the wet dog scent of inexpensive saddle shoe leather or plasticy, slick jelly shoes or porridge served in the front...