Category: Writing

  • Road Tripping, part three

    The East Coast From Gaithersburg, we drove to Washington, DC, on the Clara Barton Parkway. The view entering the city is of the Kennedy Center across the Potomac. Stunning. I’ve never entered the city in that direction and loved the parkway. We cruised past the White House and Washington Monument and visited the National Building…

  • Road Tripping, part two

    Still in Texas. We headed out I-35 but diverted on Old Bastrop Highway before San Marcos. A highway marker said we were on the El Camino Real de los Tejas. The old highway from Mexico City. We stopped in Lockhart, TX, the barbeque capital of Texas, and bought some brisket, turkey, and sausage for our…

  • Road Tripping

    I recently completed a 2,700-mile roadtrip through 19 states to my ultimate destination–Rockland, Maine where I am spending two months. I left Montrose, Colorado, on Saturday, August 26, and spent the evening, night and most of the following day with my sons in Vallecito, CO. Then, I drove to Santa Fe, NM arriving in time…

  • Two Brain Injuries, Ten Years in Federal Court, and Walking My Own Path

    Two Brain Injuries, Ten Years in Federal Court, and Walking My Own Path

    I hung up the phone. A runnel of tears cascaded down my cheeks. The floor gave way, and I was falling, tumbling, spinning, yet I could barely move. Somehow I made it to the master bedroom and closed the door. I fell to the floor and wailed, kicking my feet and pounding my fists against…

  • Writing

    Writing

    Crayons on white walls Finger-paint on newsprint A voiceless child struggles to find The image The color Of her feelings Colored chalk on sidewalks Hangman, hopscotch She tries to connect Spray paint on buildings Frustrated youth Vandalized by her emotions Red ink on skin Across her wrist Marking blue vein Ashen pages— Voices in permanent…

  • Lullaby

    Lullaby

    Sleep in the storm, rain on your head Fall, little one, softly into bed Hear the raindrops sprinkle While around you, stars twinkle Sleep, little one, dream the colors of the sun Under the clouds Listen to resonant thunder Sleep in the storm, rain on your head Fall, little one, softly into bed Lie upon…

  • I lean in to hear you whisper

    I lean in to hear you whisper

    I lean close to listen, talking out the opposite side of my mouth, your words in my ear, spewing forth from my lips parted to speak what you said, your whisper nearly inaudible to me. What did you say? I could ask with a glance, or you would correct me when I got it wrong—not…

  • Nobody reads what you write; why bother?

    Nobody reads what you write; why bother?

    It was a sunny August afternoon in 2012. I sat with a friend on a relatively empty Denver restaurant patio under a green awning. We drank terrible, sticky-sweet mojitos and talked. My friend, an older man, a cellist, and a retired Merrill Lynch Investment Banker, was planning a trip to Rome, Prague, and Paris. At…