Dear Reader,
How is it after six p.m. already? Other than a few chores, cooking lunch and supper, and one tiny notebook poem, Word Raccoon has been doing nothing.
Okay, fine, not nothing: she was binge watching The Miniature Wife. What, it was fun, she says.
And, she’d like to point out that in the one poem she wrote today, she invented a word, so that’s not nothing. I’m not sure that’s a flex, WR. More like, why couldn’t you find the word you were looking for?
Why can’t you find any more of those brownies? she snapped.
DO NOT tell her I have the ingredients to make another pan. She doesn’t need more right now, and I have her eating real food again. Finally.
I did make Crispy Chicken Bowls today, something that feels like a cross between a Southern dish and midwestern fare, based on bowls I’ve had elsewhere. No amounts needed because you just think of how much you might eat of each and multiple by the number of people eating. (Should I call my recipes “some math needed” recipes? LOL.)
Crispy Chicken Bowls
baked breaded chicken tenders
canned whole-kernel corn
cheddar cheese, shredded
mashed potatoes
barbecue sauce
Layer everything in microwave-safe individual bowls and microwave until warm except the barbecue sauce, then add as much as you like.
Hey, this is not gourmet but just coming off an illness, this is highly comforting. And easy, if I’m being honest. WR did not complain.
The real reason I’m writing is to share how honored and happy I am that “Renewal” and “Grieving Does Nothing for the Dead” are online now in aesterion’s excellent Spring 2026 issue. Many thanks to them for including my poems.
Maybe you remember that “Renewal” is one of my favorite poems, an early one, written just about a year ago.
“Grieving” is one I wrote during those foggy October/November days on the porch in 2025. I just remember it was gray and cold when I wrote it, that I just kept writing.
I can only hope these poems will come to mean something to those who read them, too. Especially “Renewal.” Some day we’ll talk about just how many times I sent that one out.
dremadrudge.com 