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...
This is how I drink whiskey in the morning

This is how I drink whiskey in the morning

The same guy who gave Ron Swanson a snifter at Lagavulin was the same guy who taught me how to pull whiskey from a barrel, a skill I’ve never used since. In 2016, he was smaller than on TV, only to my shoulder, and I wondered how we shrank over time and in real life,...
To misname a noun eg. Bird

To misname a noun eg. Bird

Photo by Segunfodeke/ CC BY-SA 3.0 while on a morning walk in Ummuneochi, a western boy called pointing a finger to the sky and says; “Eagle. This bird’s name is eagle.” I look, but the part of the sky is empty.It is gone, he said. That bird is an eagle, that is the...
The Order of Things

The Order of Things

“The Mutton Lane Inn entrance” by cotitoo is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 I’m just after kissing you goodbye on Patrick Street and maybe it’s the lingering press of your lips on mine, or the pint rejuvenating the leftover buzz of last night, or the Amber...
My Lost Vowel

My Lost Vowel

Photo of Putneyville, Pennsylvania, by Dale Johnson. All rights reserved. 1. The Pittsburgh Chain Shift uniquely identifies Southwestern Pennsylvania. Neither tectonic nor glacial, it is a linguistic distinction. As the nineteenth century Scotch Irish, English, and...
Late Night Past the Occidental Cigar Club

Late Night Past the Occidental Cigar Club

We’re walking in San Francisco and it’s getting late. I’m here in The City and it has been such a long time. A lot of time has passed. A lot of heavy time. It weighs on me as I return to familiar places and I feel aged, but you have to pronounce it...