Author: Brad Zellar

I’m got the car loaded with music, my dog, and blankets, and am headed west into the teeth of a blizzard. I’m preparing to be erased by the endless range and big sky. Wish me luck. I’ll be back in a week, and if I figure out how to use the technology I might post…

Oh, I have made myself a tribe out of my true affections, and my tribe is scattered! How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses? —Stanley Kunitz, from “The Layers” Two days and two nights the tiny ship sailed into the great lake. Just after sunset on the third day the ship…

God says if you love me you will make me Beef Wellington. Even though you are a vegetarian. We will go bow hunting for angels. Aim for the heart, even though they do not have hearts. They are most vulnerable when they are playing the harp. I hate harps. They keep me up when I…

—Abel Pann But when he came home there was no one to tell what he had seen –and if he picked the flowers and brought them home in his hands, there was no one to give them to. And when at evening, past the dark blue shape of a far-off island, the sun sank under…

Again and again we put our sweet ghosts on small paper boats and sailed them back into their death, each moving slowly into the dark, disappearing as our hearts visited and savored, hurt and yearned. —Jack Gilbert, from “Kunstkammer” Another flower shall spring, because the soul of sweet delight can never pass away. —William Blake…

Many people are understandably concerned about the status of their beloved companion animals in the afterlife. We receive queries on the subject all the time. Before I address that issue, however, I’d like to clear up a few semantic misunderstandings regarding Paradise. We’re decidedly old school up here, as you might imagine, and so far…