I was in New York City with my person for our tenth wedding anniversary, and we had with us our young. The kids had kick-scooters and our second day there we easily covered six miles while following an itinerary that included a ferry ride, a transit museum, bagels, ice cream, several parks, and a sea-glass…
Poetry for Strangers
The Word: Spanky
This was by far the hardest word. It came about when I was at a wine bar with my person and Dean was our server: he got my attention when he used a paper cup to pour my second glass of wine back into our bottle. He told us that he had two 18-year-old dachshunds…
The Word: Home
I studied at New College, Oxford, in the year 2000. My dad and I visited eighteen years later and the porters, Howard and Wayne, invited us in, so long as we didn’t disturb any of the concerts or other activities going on that summer Wednesday. We saw the old house where I lived at 65…
The Word: Morning
I met Edit in a town called Headington, just east of Oxford. I loved both her and her name. She stood straight, focused, and in all black, like a perfect punctuation mark. She took a long time to think of a word, because I know that in my asking she had summoned so many. She…
The Word: Lock keeper
On our walk along the Thames River, my dad and I passed many locks and met many lock keepers. The lock keeper’s house stands pastorally at the edge of the lock, which is a set of gates that raise and lower the water, allowing boats to come upstream and keeping the river navigable. I asked…