My grandpa is an aviation nut. He was in the Army Air Corps during WWII, he was a mechanic on B17 aircraft while in the service. He had a stack of Aviation magazines next to his reclining chair my entire childhood, and he would regularly take me to any airport we happened to be near…
On Reading Poems
Sometimes I’m reminded that not everybody comes to poems on their own, and that poems can be confusing without a framework of how to go about reading and enjoying them. Here’s how I’ve come to read poems: a poem is a stand of woods you’d like to walk through. Usually there is a trailhead, start…
Toonces The Cat Who Could Be President
Throughout the 45th presidency, I’ve tried to relate the state of the world to stories and literature in order to make sense of it all. 1984 the obvious choice. The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, Animal Farm; I’ve more recently settled upon Toonces The Cat Who Could Drive a Car as the best story to…
Profit
PROFIT Part One – Tyler “I don’t understand why you want this kind of influence around you, Tyler. It’s not healthy!” “It’s your fucking system, God! Turn the shit off if you don’t like it!” “Don’t you talk to me like that!” Sally and Tyler Felt, mother and son. They lived in one of those…
Bioluminescence
I got to Maria’s at about nine-thirty. That’s the restaurant where my partner Msima works. They’re front of house, in fact they’re manager now that Qew has left for the mainland. It’s been about two months I guess that Qew’s been gone now. I got there and went straight to the counter where I always…
Bike #2 and the magic raffle
I have one clear memory when it comes to my second bike, which was also my first road bike. It was a Schwinn World Sport, I believe from 1980. Unlike most all of the other bikes I’ve owned, I don’t really have memories of riding this one. I do remember I got a handlebar-mounted touring…
Bike #1 and the James Street Jump
I was around five when I got my first bike. It was a white Huffy with a Snoopy numberplate that said BARNSTORMER on it. I remember my grandmother said it was too big for me. I remember I thought it made me a big kid. My father took me out back behind our house to…
Mountain Biker’s Prayer
To be undressed at the Subaru’s hatch, pulling on shorts and peering into the woods for trails and sounds of life and signs of riding. To lube chain and dial-in brakes, shifting, saddle height, alone at the trailhead or with buddies, talking smack, sneaking a hit, stretching legs. To attack the trail and climb immediately…
Ninja
Ninja climbs up to my lap, not simply jumping, no, climbing up to my lap, claws on display topping me, claiming me I’m furniture She’s vulnerable close in like this She’s given me my best advantage I could so easily grab her with both hands, wrap her up, confine her, restrict her So this, full…
The Rise and Fall of Kozmo
Last night, out of the blue while lying in bed I thought of Kozmo, the internet-based delivery service that I knew from Seattle in about 1999 or 2000. That was right after I moved here, my second ex-wife and I had just moved into our first place in Wedgwood, high up on 35th Ave NE…
