I’m pushing into new territory. Others have gone before me, found new hobbies, careers that spin close enough to passion, lovers and friends: things that take up space. Or perhaps, maybe, could be that some of them are like me: wrinkling, shriveling up, pruned & lined in their almost nightly bathes. If I just get […]
Anger & Love
It’s too late in the day to be poetic. The minutes have gotten away from me but I still have an urge to keep this promise to myself. So here I am 14 hours after I woke: writing to you. I overslept today. I didn’t do my morning writing right away. I found myself struggling […]
Flash Floods
Flash Floods by Nancy Schatz Alton I trace the spaces this life has made in me: the way the underpass, bereft of water feels to my running feet how once the running stopped the orange bike arrived & I rode how I rode in the basement a new path unlike the path I made on […]
Real Lives
I read about other people’s lives and think their lives sound so interesting. But it’s also true that the author has made a story out of their lives: maybe it sounds more interesting than it really was, or actually the drama I am reading about was really hard to live through. I don’t want to […]
Striped
Striped by Nancy Schatz Alton I am a knit hat: striped hat that I lost: burnt in my memory’s strongbox pattern of random colors: no pattern red draws colors together red joins brown, white blue, every line stronger for the red through line knit by Jen: I am pieced together seamed and broadened by stories […]
Falling Water
Falling Water by Nancy Schatz Alton I feel myself pushing against the sadness that wells up inside of me. Don’t let it out don’tletitout don’t-let-it-out. It’s a crushing wave. I let myself feel it in small spills— Seltzer that ruins the Sorry game we’ve played so many times. I say, “Throw away all the games: […]
Whoosh
Whoosh by Nancy Schatz Alton I am the swoosh of the square that shifts with the sway of my hips in my Grandma’s kitchen. Noodles hang from her ceiling. She over-seasons my cereal with sugar. She is sweet with swearing, short and she means it, “Here! You need […]
Astonishment
There’s so much to love in this world. Did Mary Oliver say that? All her favorite words are in my lexicon— Astonished—How I love to be astonished. How grateful I am by unexpected sightings: Caroline curled up on the couch, studying with her friend. Liz step wholly into herself: saying exactly what she thinks. OK—not […]
Why Blog Daily?
Everything’s moving so fast right now. Someone suggested I shouldn’t blog every day. To ask myself why I blog. To set up a schedule and blog a few times a week. And these are good questions. Time is moving fast. I have too much to do to fit it into the hours I have to […]
My Safe
A man carries a safe onto a moving van parked in front of my home. We place our important papers into the safe. What important papers do we carry inside of us? Which sentences do we cross off to make better sentences? Sentences that help us become confident enough to do what we want to […]