Say I told you that I spent a good, no, a great, part of my life in numbness training. Men thought me emotionally stable because I wanted nothing, asked for nothing, accepted even less. Women thought me a threat because men thought me well. I was never well. Say I told you that in myContinue reading “A Night Well Spent”
Tag Archives: women
Seeds
The small, slow steps work. Every time. This is true of difficult decisions. True of preparing a gorgeous meal. True of creating beautiful art. The fastest track might yield “results,” but rarely offers a deep sense of fulfillment. For the last three years, I’ve suffered a variety of medical malfunctions. Maybe I’ve suffered this wayContinue reading “Seeds”
An Invitation to Keep Your Course
Today, there’s a swearing-in. Yesterday, three hostages were released. The day before, TikTok “went dark.” Last week, Zuckerberg decided to eliminate fact-checkers on Meta, citing a “cultural tipping point.” Last year, Musk created a reel using AI, putting words in Harris’ mouth, and called it a Parody. In the days of yonder, we called thisContinue reading “An Invitation to Keep Your Course”
The World Needs More Than a Tweaking
I underwent a little spine surgery last Wednesday. Yes. I’m fine. Yes. It was a necessary tweaking, offering hope to alleviate pressure and pain on my occipital nerves. I think of all pain, nerve pain is the worst. No. Heart-pain wins. But this isn’t about pain. This is about hunger. The day after my tweaking,Continue reading “The World Needs More Than a Tweaking”
Let’s Say…
Let’s say, recently, interested men-folk express their said-interest in you by pointing out all that they are willing to accept. And, let’s say, their acceptance, which is tolerance in disguise, shapes into a short list and on this list is the life you’ve curated, including your four Newfoundlands, your adult disabled son, and your ownContinue reading “Let’s Say…”
My Little Guide to Soap-Making
Remember, there’s juiciness in stems as well as flowers.
How Remodeling My Kitchen Helped Me Revise My Full-Length Poetry Collection
This type of restructuring transferred to my writing in, well, structure, especially helpful with poetry. Poetry is both a visual and a literary art. The shape and structure and form inform the work as much as word choice and language.
The Birth of an Essay
Power surged into me, something electrical, and I realized I was given a piece of me back, the piece taken from me over and over in my youth. The piece used to control me, overpower me, keep me in my place. The piece that should have belonged to me and only me all along, that should have been guarded, protected, like the world’s greatest diamond. The piece diminished to the point I never thought about it, didn’t look at it, never talked about it. The piece I felt ashamed of, the one I blamed myself for all that went wrong. The piece that guided my babies into this world and helped push them forth into their first breath.
Me. No More.
Me. Me. December 2008. Me. One month prior to downloading my youngest. Me. One year prior to fleeing my home, three sons in tow, one duffel stuffed with medical supplies and a handful of diapers. Me. Looking un-terrified, flexing, posing. Me. Living in duplicity. This image is not about body-beauty or suface-pretty. This was anContinue reading “Me. No More.”
Writing “Me”
I found, through the use of third-person, I could write the hard stuff, the stuff that damaged me, that changed me, that shamed me. I could write as if I were writing about somebody else.
