Alameda

Alameda

Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock.com There is water here, somewhere, but not at the end of this street, or the next one, each finding only a barrier of evergreens.         And so I walk ever further into this maze of houses, each reclaimed from history, yards...
Angel Island Ferry

Angel Island Ferry

1. In the boat’s wake:a range of mountains,arching spine of peaks and valleys molded into the pliant sea. The path forward: littered with driftwood. 2. The earth’s anxiety in the liminal spaces: maelstrom of birds, the wind’s long howl, arrhythmic ocean swelling and...
Seville, New Year’s Eve, 2019

Seville, New Year’s Eve, 2019

Photo:  agsaz / Shutterstock.com After my visit to the Royal Alcazar, I stopped at a café and sat outside, relishing the almost-warmth in that last day of December, sipping the thick hot chocolate and dipping fat fingers of churros into it, telling myself it was my...
Fumar mata

Fumar mata

It’s ten minutes to 7 and mordant sunlight is leaking through the gaps in the broken curtains. I can feel the gold light on my face and understand the meaning of the term ‘sun-drenched.’ I keep my eyes closed, letting my eyelids burn under the weight of the fulgent...
Needle Park

Needle Park

We are in Needle Park and I am cold. I’m always cold, even in October. Maybe this has to do with the way the sun rises over my house, sort of in a sloppy diagonal. The cat and I sit in the backyard to thaw out in the early afternoon. Blonde cockroaches live in...
Central Market, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Central Market, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Photo: George Sheldon / Shutterstock.com The pungent odorof horseradish follows youpast butchers, bakers,and florists, past glazed donuts, hard pretzels, and youngMennonites tying cherrystems in knots with tongues. Andy Brown is a freelance writer and editor of Scrawl...