“Seduction of Nature”
“Nature was the celestial nymph of the Infinite come to seduce me. Like the seaborne semi-silk-draped enchantress in Cot’s The Storm, she floated enticingly close, near enough for me to feel her body warmth and smell the inner-earth scents of her form but too far away to capture her as my own. I could feel […]
Continue reading“The English Teacher”
“What drama and excitement there was in the classroom when Diepen first opened the pages of the great poem and began to declaim its lines. His free left hand swept up above his head in vigorous gesticulation, pausing there momentarily before flipping up in a snap so that the palm faced the ceiling. The teacher […]
Continue reading“The Prom”
Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “On the days leading up to the dance, members of the class worked long hours transforming the cafeteria into a sort of psychedelic Motown. On one end they erected a stage where the Soul Survivors would perform. At the near side of the room, in the middle, they placed tables laden […]
Continue reading“Between Worlds”
She now existed in that interregnum separating the old and the new consciousness. For just a moment, a worrisome thought afflicted her; she flashed back to that earlier state, when there were problems and tribulations. But then her body and mind froze in place, and an overpowering feeling, that Everything is Perfect, that nothing could […]
Continue reading“The Great Bliss”
By this point in her life, she had let it all go: all the drama and the problems, all the worries and the tension. She now allowed herself to relax and sink into the warm waters of every living moment, savoring the exquisite joy therein. She felt herself rising like yeasty bread, gradually expanding up […]
Continue reading“The Workshop”
Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “At times Skylar followed his father down to the sacred space and watched him as he worked. To the boy, this was a magical, manly place, silent except for the sound of tools at work, organized to the point of perfection, filled with the wholesome smells of sawdust, oil, and Elmer’s […]
Continue reading“The Dance”
I recently watched a video of a group of black people dancing together to a soul tune from the ’70s. I found myself utterly fascinated, captivated by what I saw. There was a slim graceful woman in the middle of the group, two large-framed, heavy women in the row nearest the camera. A couple of […]
Continue reading“Man and Woman”
Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “Behind Annie’s flower-stem delicacy and blossom face rose the rock wall named Keegan. His name may have implied fire and determination, but Keegan emanated the solidity of rock, the stability of a castle bulwark. Immediately upon meeting Annie and Keegan, Skylar recognized the perfect combination they represented: the fragile protected by […]
Continue reading“Two Floridas”
Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “Two Floridas”: “From experience, Skylar knew that there were really two distinct Floridas: one populated by inland redneck farmers and the other, by largely coastal tourists, retirees, and the locals who serviced them. The rural areas shared with the coastal ones the too-proximate sun but little else. The well-established mythology that […]
Continue reading