Overwhelmed, Overdrawn and Over There Three babies under three Married to madness beginning to manifest In a country where people Have been bred for generations to be Distant, Logical, and Blunt Vowels that sound like home But the meaning eludes me Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof Then came the letters from Dad Office envelopes containing The spiky backhand I know so well The faint smell of English Leather Delicious wit like Swiss cheese on pumpernickel The lighthouse and the cortland t...

I just received an e-mail that my piece Children of the Night is being published in a trade paperback anthology of work by mothers with special needs children. I am doing the boogie dance in my jammies.

The Basement Pine paneling with knots Like the eyes of many owls. Sheets draping piles of things Depression Era babies can’t throw out. Damp smell of books decaying Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess Edith Hamilton’s Mythology Idylls of the King—forgot we had that. Even Mom and Dad debate about Who will go down there. I go to keep the peace And appease the knees Then I remember the ghost Always just beyond my peripheral vision. I whistle to show it I’m not afraid. What ...

I stand at the window As you tumble on the grass like a litter of puppies Sweaty and popsicle stained. I dry my hands on a dish towel and My heart smiles. I stand at the window As the radio panics And the sky turns chlorine green. I gather you under my wings and play camping while My heart heaves a force field around you. I stand at the window As you pull away backing down the driveway, Age 16 years and 20 minutes. I try to read or knit or fake sleep but I check the window ...

Thank you for all your prayers. The result is that I found a lovely home in suburban Phoenix. It's actually the house I had pictured in my head. I really don't want to seem ungrateful. I mean God has provided me with a good job, a house I love, my children are here with me safe and sound. Phoenix is really a beautiful city. The desert colors are gorgeous. Even the heat is not to bad. (The next person that says it's a dry heat is getting b-witch-slapped.) But... I am really homesick. As...

Way back in January my writing group did an exercise. We were to do a free write off of Diane Levertov's Come into Animal Presence. After reading little-whip's article on zoos and the subsequent discussion, I decided to post this. Thanks to little-whip for starting a really good discussion and to Diane Levertov for the prompt. Do you feel that zoos are sacred? Or crimes against the sacred? Everyday we ignore wildlife Because it is our own and We pay to see someone else's that They so...

I dreamt I was in the school play A musical about the Triangle Shirt Waist Fire Of all things. Dress rehearsal Fin de siècle bustle and blouse Make good tinder. Horsing around backstage Elaborate adolescent improv My algebra book slips Down the trap door To the dusty underside of the stage Can’t clamber down in costume Pete—not my Pete—Pete, the team captain Who never noticed me in school Retrieves it for me and smiles Like a yellow lab waiting for me To scratch his ...

These are not necessarily from books I liked...some I did, some I didn't, some I didn't even finish. But is is a fun exercise to go through your book shelf and pull out ten good first sentences. 1. “You see, Pooh,” I said, “a lot of people don’t seem to know what Taoism is…”—Benjamin Hoff. The Tao of Pooh. 2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.—Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. 3. No one who had ever seen ...

OK Gang--I am officially homeless. I am writing this from La Quinta Inns and Suites in Colorado Springs. If you have to be homeless, this is the way to do it. Thanks to dear friends who used frequent traveler points to book me a room. I am on my way to sunny Phoenix, Arizona where I have to find a home for me and six of my kids before starting my job next month. The kids are staying with their big sister and her new baby. Moving day itself is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. By 4:...

I found a scrap of a piece four years old and decided to work with it. Fencing There are soccer moms And Little League moms. I am a fencing mom. Fencing is an elegant combination of Ballet and thumb wrestling. Competitors dance up and down The electrified strip. A pantomimed tango— With sharp objects. Fencers themselves are an odd mix D&D geeks, feminists, and elitists Rich kids bored with pony club. Then there’s Katie--a poor kid From aristocratic bloodlines, ...

Learn how to dance! I mean actual ballroom dance. I was just showing the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" to my music students. It's a fun film about New York City kids learning ballroom dance as part of their music and PE curriculum. They go on to participate in city-wide competition. Seeing the kids turn from being jaded street wise and at-risk into graceful, joyful ladies and gnetleman was really delightful. Richard Gere in Shall We Dance. Antonio Banderas in Take the Lead. I'm tellin...

Some weeks are brilliant jewels you treasure. Some you just really need a do-over. Then weeks like this one are all over the map. Here is a brief list. 1. 10 yo bipolar boy was hospitalized again. It's spring; he's manic. On we go. 2. Boy was released, but not stable. This led to 48 hours of screaming, weeping, willfully defecating, and throwing small appliances. 3. Hospital won't take him back. They say to follow up with his outpatient psychiatrist. 4. There are no psychiatrists acceptin...

She became her mother against her own will. The words she swore she would never say to her own children spilled out of her mouth. And the children's response was like a slap, "You sounded like Grandma just now." NO! Make it stop! She listed all the things she did that her mother would NEVER do: Fast dance in the kitchen Drop everything for a lunar eclipse. Offer the UPS man a cup of cocoa. Let people come over even when the house was messy. Do Tarzan yells at the beach. Go to t...

The Fortune Cookie "Never let go too soon. Never hold on too long." Well, that’s the trick, isn’t it? If only we could get a look at the script ahead of time Then we would know our cues. When to take center stage and when to exit stage right. In our little drama I have consistently flubbed my lines. Or you flubbed yours. Or maybe we’re performing two entirely different plays. Last night you comforted me. And I was so mad at you For not recognizing that In every roman...