I’m not sure how my office looks the same when everything is change. Last week a source told me that every problem is solvable. The week before that I wrote down the phrase “Everything is workable.” Set it in my office. I keep coming upon it. Something about my almost 50-year-old body does not feel […]
Author: Nancy Schatz Alton
Desire
Desire by Nancy Schatz Alton He said, There’s still time. I held his words. Where does desire live? Within my tightly coiled calf muscles. These legs that ran the playground parameter twice. One mile, 3pm. There’s still time. Another 4th of July. One more song on the radio that lights me up. If I hold […]
Flip Turns
This morning Annie said to me, “Oh, the flip turn! I think I can finally do it and it’s easier than I thought.” Annie has been on swim team for almost a year. She’s in it because she wants to be with her friends, and she loves being in the water. It’s no pressure: no […]
Bitter to Better
During the hardest years of my young daughter’s life, I often wanted to be somewhere else. It’s not a proud thing to admit. It’s just the truth. It was hard to watch her struggle. To not know how to make her life easier. To watch other kids seemingly learn with ease. It was hard to […]
RoadMap
This is what I made for you today. Or for myself: “RoadMap: Family of 4.” I ask: What time is it? It’s 5 o’clock for one of us. To the right, to the right, to the right, says another. While I’m right in the middle of my head, head, head, like Ruth Krauss writes in […]
Monday Longing
We’ve rearranged the pictures in our house. It’s discombobulating. It’s like I live in a museum. I mean, I do live in a museum that chronicles the last 20 years of our lives. There’s a painting of my father-in-law, painted by my husband. A painting by Liz when she was maybe in 2nd grade. I […]
Change
About a year ago, I decided to push toward the new. Mostly because I needed to: it’s arriving whether I like it or not. The other half came from a gentle nudge from my friend. As she drove me away from the urgent care clinic where I had gotten my left index finger sewn up. […]
Want
Want by Nancy Schatz Alton Every part of me hurts from wanting From making myself rise daily To see about this wanting I’m done tamping myself down You see we’re painting The dining room half-red/half pleasing white A marriage of just enough mayonnaise to let the want scream I want my home to signal you […]
A Lean Crew
A Lean Crew by Nancy Schatz Alton The only sturdy thing is my indecision My waffling between menu items Always invited laughter When I needed to know: French toast or waffles. Yet mirth held its own blessing Another vantage point In a world fraught With catastrophe. What if falling is funny? Our most irritating habits: […]
Found
Found by Nancy Schatz Alton “I am not a saint/ Because I keep trying to be a sound, something/ You will remember/ Once you’ve lived long enough not to believe in heaven.” -Jericho Brown, from “Deliverance” I’ve noticed if I hum I’m closer to being in tune But I don’t need to reach the right […]