Making a Path by Nancy Schatz Alton We are whacking our way through a forest, untamed. Underneath the understory there’s a million stories: Everyone who came before us making a path of every mistake and misstep broken trust and dried out bones wheels falling off the tracks ruts underneath the understory. We make our own […]
Category: At Home
Making Pizza Dough
I make time to make dinner for my family even though I’ll be at work when they eat it. It’s the opposite of making them do things for themselves. It’s the ultimate in taking care of someone else even as anyone can argue that my family should take care of themselves. But this making dinner […]
What I’ve been up to since graduation.
What I’ve been up to since graduation is making a life. By Nancy Schatz Alton I want so much more than that: For the crowd to cheer when I wander up to the microphone. To have learned how to wow the crowd with my words and intonation. To not care so much that I make […]
A Sum That Led Me Here
A Sum That Led Me Here by Nancy Schatz Alton My center spills into this day; I catch its edges with classical music. The notes promise epiphany; a recycling bin rolls down the drive. I know how long it takes to learn a melody, one line at a time. My brother writes, Remember the thunderstorm […]
Take In The Sky
I’m eating ice cream in my office. I have never done this before. Indulged, alone, during the work day, with ice cream. I mean, I’ve indulged with cheese puffs and chocolates, but never ice cream. I’m at a lull in work, two assignments handed in, waiting for edits. Six stories to research, at the very […]
Seeing
Marge Piercy Plants a Phrase “Some collisions bring luck.” -MP I am the highway at dusk, pink light, Mt. Rainier marks my horizon. I am you, the one that curls into me on the couch, 16 and awake, you color the atoms of this room with everything you see. I am here, looking at trees […]
Difficult And Lovely
It’s OK that things are difficult. It’s OK that it’s dark outside when you wake. It’s OK that another summer has passed, and your babies are young adults. It’s OK that the face in the mirror has sun spots that darken with the sunlight of summer. It’s OK that things are difficult. That human growth […]
Dirt
Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace The word sits in front of my work desk, pushing me to offer myself the grace that I extend others. Already the day heats up. News from Liz’s choir director, sad my gifted singer is opting for swimming instead of the stress of a large group choir. Minutes later the […]
Holy Fire/Dirty Bathroom Mirror
Today’s the first day since June 7th that I’ve been home without kids for more than a few hours. Ah, I thought, I’ll have hours to work. Ah, my focus is not focused today. Even writing this feels not easy. We’re half in summer and half out. I’m right in the week between our family’s […]
Not Sleeping
The endings pile up and I lay awake at night and think about faith. Not faith in a specific God, but faith that all will be well enough. That I will let go of the outcomes for my kids and they will fly well enough, fly away from me. My oldest stretches and leans away […]