Early morning, barely awake and jet-lagged, a word pops into my head: Happenstance, a poetic mingling of chance and circumstance. I do think there’s an order to the universe. I don’t think everything happens for a reason, but any unwelcome circumstance foisted on us, once we get past the anger … [Read more...] about Happenstance
My Father’s Voice
It’s a sunny Father’s Day and my husband (thousands of miles from his daughter) is busy making the hill next to our house beautiful. Planting. Weeding. Watering. I'm on the deck watching. In the background is the perfect CD for the moment, Keith Jarrett, Bye Bye Blackbird. The title song is one I … [Read more...] about My Father’s Voice
A Green Wallet and a Poem . . . and a Mother’s Day Surprise
Nestled among small purses lined up on a shelf in my closet is a green wallet I use from time to time, my mother’s, one of the things I kept after she died. A pattern of tiny diamonds gives texture to the leather, a cross between emerald and evergreen. Tiered slots for credit cards and a zipper … [Read more...] about A Green Wallet and a Poem . . . and a Mother’s Day Surprise
The Motherless Child
In the early months following the attacks on The Satanic Verses and the ensuing fatwa, Salman Rushdie finds himself questioning the very thing that had been one of his greatest joys, namely, being a writer. As he tells it in his chronicle of that extraordinary time, Joseph Anton, “If one spent five … [Read more...] about The Motherless Child
A bench, a book, a patch of grass . . .
. . . Fireworks. Say what you will about the calendar (with its celestial reminder that there is an order to our days), something more spirited is at play when one season slips into the next. By the time the summer solstice arrives, Memorial Day has already jumpstarted the … [Read more...] about A bench, a book, a patch of grass . . .
Charmed
It's here -- the shortest night of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere), a good a reason as any to join in the International Short Story Day celebrations across the globe and (re)post a short piece of fiction that first appeared in The Potomac. Charmed "I have a surprise for you," he … [Read more...] about Charmed
