dropsy

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not long before my mom died, i took her to a doctor’s appointment in a nearby town.  the car trip was relatively short but wiped her out.  getting into and out of the car was difficult, as she had grown weak from rapid weight loss.  by the time she was finished with blood tests at … Read more

emotional truth

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the craft of writing is finding your emotional truth. i recently read BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Walter. what a book.  one day, i hope i write a book that’s even a little bit as beautiful as this book. in an essay included at the back end of the book, he talks about living and experiencing … Read more

aloha

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it’s summer.  there’s a cool drink waiting for me on a lanai.

bull head

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i’m re-reading a collection of shorts BULL HEAD by John Vigna. what a collection. the writer’s unflinching scrutiny of the brutality of small town life in the Crowsnest Pass is something else. beautiful and painful. here’s an excerpt from a story called ‘Gas Bar’: “And then what?” She wipes her eyes and nose on the … Read more

failure

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everything Anne Enright says in this Guardian piece is the fucking best. everything. and i’m printing it off, laminating it, and hanging it on my fridge because it’s fucking true. here’s a section: I have no problem with failure – it is success that makes me sad. Failure is easy. I do it every day, … Read more

the girl with tourette’s

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the girl with Tourette’s is on a roll and can’t stop, pressing her tight lips together. “fuckfuckshitfuck,” she says and apologizes. spitting swear words, sounds, she’s scratching a record uniquely her own. she’s got copropraxic rhythm. marie is her name and she’s small. she moves in short, long, short.  like she’s shoving through a crowd at a … Read more

here i sit with big hands

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here’s an article about Faulkner’s postcards/letters from Europe in the 20s. they’re up for auction. there’s an idea that Faulkner was so influenced by analytic cubist works of Picasso and Braque that his writing is an extension into the literary form. FYI analytic cubism is representing a subject from multiple perspectives simultaneously. this is an … Read more