Victory Comes a Little Later

You probably know the scene. The battle is almost lost. Some have died; others are badly wounded. It seems the underdog has finally succumbed. You did not win. And then, the roar of the real victor comes forth, and up rises the master of the river to beat back the...

The Blankness of Language

The other night I woke with this image of a large piece of poster board in my mind. I was holding the blank, white poster board up to God and saying something that wasn’t in English; it sounded something like “jabba janusch do ma” (which is probably...

Everything

Stupid commercials for I don’t even know what. TV shows that are supposed to be so different from my life. Books that she never even saw. All of these things, everything reminds me of her tonight. I wonder what I did not know, what I never knew to ask about. I...

Forward from the Wilderness

A trip to Alaska. Tutoring a friend’s granddaughter in writing. A year with Dad. This seems to be my next year. A year to live with my dad while I write a book, while he learns to live as a widower, while we learn to live again, this time without Mom. I’ve...