Quiet house, what can you teach me? How to clear out the noisy voices in my head.
Flight
Flight by Nancy Schatz Alton I covet your glorious locks so much that you give them to me for seconds. You throw your luscious brown locks of hair over my head. We look in the mirror at your mop over my crown and laugh, say I look good with your strands teasing […]
Orange-Red (brown)
The trees are split open, their orange-reds insides are startlingly beautiful this time of year. This time of year, the dank wet dampness covers everything, even though everything grows. Everything grows because it rains more days than we’d like to think about. These days, I think about summer ahead. How when summer arrives, that means […]
I Don’t Know/I Want
I eat my lunch while reading, my thoughts faster than the speed at which I can write them down. Oh! My students should read this: here’s a poem about peeling an orange. Wait—it’s really long & it’s about cancer and war and travel and oranges. The vent system of our house is pushing waves of […]
Happy Birthday
Today’s it’s my brother’s birthday and I think of him in New York City, celebrating another day. I think of all the people we cannot see who think of us when we can’t imagine anyone thinking of us. I think of the tiny prayers we hold in our hearts. The ones that we want to […]
Fire
To write one true poem. The year begins, and I hear the words again: To write one true poem. From my wall hanging. The one I stop and read. The one about loving wolves over dogs. Make haste for your gifts. Prepare for the words to light you up. I don’t know which words are […]
Wasting Time
I’m alone. I’m eating curry. I’m listening to Sam Smith. Loud. I’m sorting papers. I’m remembering my editor Lisa who told me that I need to waste time for new stories to find me. Your co-worker who looks like he is wasting time on the Internet? He has the best story idea. I like making […]
Expectation
Expectation by Nancy Schatz Alton I want to write without expectation stealing these words. Still, I can’t quite describe the sound of heat filling this space. The way the light hits the plywood basketball hoop backboard. How being alone is so easy yet I love connection, too. Can you hear the heat being […]
The Now
Ah. The 31st. I already went online and saw summations from 2018. The instinct to gather and look behind is so great. I am a lover of memoir. I understand that. I want to gather what is behind me and make a story that can help me live out tomorrow. But more than that, I […]
14
The Christmas tree is down. The space stands empty, ready to receive the turn of another year tomorrow. Liz Anne turns 14 tomorrow. Someone asked if I was ready. Who’s ready for change? Does it matter if we’re ready? I prepare myself by calling my kids the year ahead a few months before it arrives. […]