Wishing Well

Wishing Well

Photo by Brian Benson About a decade ago, when I was as directionless and angsty and heartbroken as I’ve ever been, I went on a boat ride with two of my best friends, Galen and Reid. I call it a “boat ride” because if I say it was a trip down the Mississippi, you’ll...
Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis

Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis

Runner1928 via Wikimedia Commons. License:CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo: Runner1928, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons I have no words for the strangeness I sawthat day in the lake or the monstroussadness it rose in me. What I know is after Iheard the sigh of a splash, two...
Off Campus

Off Campus

Photo: AlexiusHoratius, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Dawn in Poughkeepsie should not be underestimated. When you come from a place that is no place in particular, you don’t own the pen that writes towns off. I was not granted Brooklyn’s dry wit or Santa Fe’s...
Empire State

Empire State

Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 1.Every bodypersists in its stateof rest or somnambulantmotion unless awakenedby a force.Only in the clinch instant, the fluttering lids,the unexpected reversal,a life is jerked awake. 2.At the level of...
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte / Painting by Georges Seurat Your eyes are languid. Look at the trees and see the hazy dappling of the leaves. Look at the river and see the unmixed points of periwinkle, lapis lazuli, Aegean blue. Who are these...