Louise Erdrich’s novel The Round House is first and foremost a good story. If I was to recount the basic narrative in less than a page—as you would if someone asked you, “what was that one about?”—I think you’d find it interesting even then, and for me it would be hard to do so without wandering off into some enticing narrative thicket. That’s not something we can say about every book that toys with literary […]
[Part 1] The biggest challenge of my young life was finding my way to a meaningful existence. Like all children I wanted to enjoy myself and have fun, but something about this desire required companions, and from an early age I discovered true companions were hard to come by. My settings as a being have always been oriented towards introspection, and because I was gifted intellectually and also fairly athletic, and perhaps because of other […]
When I was in high school I underwent one of those sea changes that sweep through us. My mother was hospitalized for a time for treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder, my dad lost his job, we made weekly trips down to the church’s food pantry, and eventually my parents separated. The real weight of it occurred during my senior year. One of the interesting things that came out of this was the freedom to leave […]
Once in a while Hafiz takes things too far. Like after I took him to the Celtics game where he noted with ear-to-ear enthusiasm the musical ambush they sprung upon us during TV timeouts that filled the entire arena and every soul in it with raucous abandon and a preview of the apocalypse. Next day I’m sitting quietly on the living room floor in a stare down with some hint of brokenness, stirring the kettle […]
I came in the door grunting like a bison with four empty stomachs and a calf at home with a head cold, dragged a toe on the threshold and nearly sent five half-shredded bags of heart healthy fruits and vegetables two bottles of heart healthy wine a heart healthy dark chocolate bar and a glass bottle of the most perfect most heart healthy cold-pressed olive oil Mother Nature could produce shooting across the floor in […]
One day the Beloved glanced over and saw me schlepping my burlap bag of memories dull dreams and weathered photos across a landscape of cars, glass bottles, and tinted-glass personalities like a lonely tortoise having a near death experience during the evening commute. Curious, She picked me up. My legs dangled awkwardly, pumping the air in their usual slow, auto-piloted circles as if nothing had happened, as if I might still actually be plodding along, […]
Embracing Forever 