My horoscope is so appropriate as it is most of the time: December 21, 2012 Taurus (4/20-5/20) New beginnings are not always marked by commencement ceremonies or starting pistols. All it takes to branch out in a new direction or get that side project finally off the ground is you! Stop waiting for the green light — there isn’t going to be one. Right now, you need to move forward on your own. If the…
I was sound asleep and in the middle of the night was roused by a woman outside, yelling, “Miracle. Come!” This went on for fifteen minutes. I’m not sure if I was still sleeping, if this indeed happened, and if it was a cat or a dog or what she was calling. This morning, I listed the LaLa and this afternoon, prospective buyers are coming to look. Miracle. Come!
Story from Another Inquisition Deborah wasn’t a Jew, and then she is: one day, the salt from lox—so flushed, so red—no longer cloys, but harkens to a parted sea, a mat of smoke and ocean on the tongue. Or maybe a relative in Argentina picks up the phone, calls Deborah, speaks the Barchu slowly, the Hebrew filling her ears, unlocking like a door. This relative, a quiet old refugee Jew, speaks Spanish to his mailman,…
I said to myself, self I said, go forward and in doing so the cards were falling in a perfect flush. Tomorrow the realtor comes by to list the house. I found a house that is interesting, bye bye bayou, maybe, just a maybe now, hello Isle of Denial (more will be revealed). Tonight, we were supposed to head to Evan’s concert at St. Louis Cathedral, which I was looking forward to but I ended…
I spent the day contemplating my new life free of the LaLa – foot loose and fancy free and that is my new jam. My neighbor brought out her trusty mortgage calculator and determined that I could be living in a house and paying 1/4 of what I am now and hey, taking myself out for a celebratory lunch or dinner every week. I say live instead of die a slow mortgage death. The greater…
Today, I called the realtor and told him I’m thinking of selling the house. He walked me through scenarios and I hung up the phone. I then went and picked up Tin and we played in the park and I looked around the historic Irish Channel and thought, okay maybe we could move closer to his school. Maybe. Then I came home and we went about our evening life. I made dinner and we sat…
A while back I received an email from a publisher collecting essays on New Orleans so I wrote one and sent it in. Recently, I received an email saying the book, New Orleans by New Orleans was published and was being launched and I could even read it at the event. I went, curious because more than anything, I couldn’t remember what I had written. I even thought this evening of not going because I…
I know you are busy. I know tis the season. I know you have lots of things to read on your bedside table. I know. I know. I know. But take a few minutes and listen to these poets reading some damn moving poetry and you will be replenished as if someone gave you more time and more peace in your heart.
BY LUCILLE CLIFTON these hips are big hips they need space to move around in. they don’t fit into little petty places. these hips are free hips. they don’t like to be held back. these hips have never been enslaved, they go where they want to go they do what they want to do. these hips are mighty hips. these hips are magic hips. i have known them to put a spell on a man…
We’re nearing that time when school lets out and Christmas comes and then New Year’s and then we rewind and repeat. Or rather this year, we move down our new path. I wonder how many of you had a transitional year the likes of mine? I came out the gates of 2012 with a roar, ready to rock n roll, and suddenly got derailed and rethreaded and miraculously, re-energized. This has been a year for…