Personal Essays & Reflections

The Dogwood Tree

The Dogwood Tree

A few months after my younger daughter died of a fentanyl overdose at age 27, I moved to a town where I knew no one, lured by a new-construction house on an undeveloped half-acre lot. The developer had put in a few plants by the front door, but the rest of the lot was...

read more
Houdini

Houdini

My tiny grade school library housed a number of books on “Houdini.” “The master of escape.” Who ordered these? Why these books? Geared to a 3rd, 4th, maybe 5th grade reader. I read them all.Did anyone notice I was reading THESE? Why THESE, someone might...

read more
D.E.B.R.A.

D.E.B.R.A.

I am the person whose egg participated in your lifeIt wasn't just meThe sperm donor was your fatherHe wasn't around much after the first few yearsThey say I kept him away from youMaybe parts of me didI was hurt and very much emotionally unavailable to everyoneWe were...

read more
Why?

Why?

In order to regain a best connection with my inner young adult, I decided to listen to all my old cassette tapes (more than 150!). Thanks to osteopathic care, I suffer less from hyper-acousia, and have become able to listen to music again, but no more than one or two...

read more
Sous le maquillage

Sous le maquillage

Je croyais naïvement au dicton populaire « Donner, c’est donner. Reprendre, c’est voler ».  Mais j’ai découvert récemment qu’une somme rondelette, reçue en « cadeau » il y a 15 ans, était en réalité munie d’un « élastique de rappel ». Sous le maquillage, la belle...

read more