The Changeless Climate

I turn on the water faucet and wait. Not a single drip comes out. While in the middle of cooking dinner, I pause, stare at the nothingness. For those of us living on a private well, as my boyfriend and I do, such a moment causes an immediate jolt to the body, flush of...
We Can Face Tough Challenges

We Can Face Tough Challenges

  Recently, I killed a squirrel—intentionally. I was walking our dog, Lester, along a country road near our house, when suddenly he scared up the little cutie. He tore after it, racing through a thicket of trees, and then back toward me, where the squirrel ducked...
The Whispering Hurricane

The Whispering Hurricane

It starts as a quiet whisper a little voice telling me how I’ve been wronged. I cock my head to listen, and the words quicken, anxious like a bird’s heartbeat in the palm. Soon, I am seduced into a hurricane of thoughts. They rush and swirl, twirl me around until I’m...

No Escape but Love

In that waking or sleeping dream, when you can’t escape the monster… You try running but your legs tangle. You try fighting but fangs pierce your flesh. Then one day you call to the Beloved inside and poof, the monster disappears. Why does it work when nothing else...
The True Home

The True Home

  You dreamed of houses: A hacienda surrounded by a verdant ranch, An airy sanctuary perched on a hill, A wooden shack floating away in a river. In the dreams the house was your life. All activity centered around it— you mended stucco, planted lilacs, repaired a...