Category Archives: Writing

Keep Your Hands and Feet Inside the Ride Until It Comes to a Complete Stop

Now Playing: Dinosaur, Adrian Belew Friends, thank you for your patience as I process my mother’s death and burial. This series is almost at its end for now. I think. I hope. I honestly had no idea I’d write about all this. But maybe I’m doing it to help myself process her passing. My fatherContinue reading “Keep Your Hands and Feet Inside the Ride Until It Comes to a Complete Stop”

You Had Only to Come and See Me

“I was there. You had only to come and see me.” Isabel Archer, Portrait of a Lady Word Raccoon’s Log: 6:47 AM, My Sunporch. Wearing: Pity the Fool. It’s a robe. With a backstory. Hold your horses. Playing: “Landslide.” But not in the sad way. Not really. At least not this morning. Last night IContinue reading “You Had Only to Come and See Me”

My Heart as a To-Do List Or, I Said I Wasn’t Going to Poem Today (Reader, I Lied)

Now Playing: “Into the Mystic,” Van Morrison. My to-do list leading up to Mom’s service on Saturday is shrinking. Finally. (I should say this is just my portion of the list. Other family members have done as much and more.) Mom’s obituary? Published. Poem written for the memorial cards? Check.Notifying family and friends? Done.Trying toContinue reading “My Heart as a To-Do List Or, I Said I Wasn’t Going to Poem Today (Reader, I Lied)”

I’m Taking the Corn

Trigger warning: this post discusses my mother’s homegoing in detail, as well as my sometimes-nonsensical grief reactions. Read with care. Not listening to anything today but the birds. Hubby is tending to the playlist for my mother’s funeral, so I think I’ll leave the music to him for now. We lost my mom. She wasContinue reading “I’m Taking the Corn”

Writing While Elsewhere

From Snorton’s Anthology of Dislocated Literary Composition (Abridged)Chronology of Writing While Elsewhere: An Addendum I’ve been re-reading The Portrait of a Lady, or attempting to, but I keep getting looped back into James’s utterly unhinged and relatable author’s preface. It’s a mini master class in both writing in general and on the importance of physicalContinue reading “Writing While Elsewhere”

Nota Bene

Pencils Down This Page Left Intentionally Blank (Unless You’re Reading it) If you are not the oneto whom I am writingStep off. This page has been leftIntentionally blank Like those little blue exam books.All potential.All allure. If you’re the one I’m examining, you’ll know it’s you. I’ll give you a penAnd the time for theexamContinue reading “Nota Bene”

Mega “Stuf” Grief as the Tide Continues the Drift

Now Playing: “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (1963)(It was my parents’ song because my mother’s parents once owned a tiny restaurant called the Sugar Shack. Isn’t that adorable?) Listen along! Today, I ate Mega Stuf Oreos and drank Coke Zero while trying to write my mother’s obituary. (She’s not gone yet, butContinue reading “Mega “Stuf” Grief as the Tide Continues the Drift”

The Trillium Dollar Question and the Approaching

Mackinac Island, a necessary breath in our life right now. When Barry’s workplace offered to take a busload, Word Raccoon tapped me on the shoulder and asked to go. Anything for WR.   We packed too many snacks, not enough caffeine, and a firm resolve to stay politely aloof from the group tour energy—until WordContinue reading “The Trillium Dollar Question and the Approaching”