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 … Read more
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 … Read more
A man went out to his car one night, started the ignition, inserted a Chuck Berry disc in the CD player, and drove off into the darkness in search of space. He wanted to get out from under the street lights and the general overglow of the city, out beyond the tangle of freeways and … Read more
All night in my dreams, a battle raged, destroying the only world I loved, bombs falling on the city where my beloved slept, in another house, another bed, on the other side of a lake. Deep in sleep, which I surrender to willingly, if seldom, I felt such despair and tried without success to kick … Read more
I do not wish to go below now. –Henry David Thoreau I’ve got no stomach for demolition. Hell, I can’t even stand the thought of dismantling the Christmas tree. It tears me up, so there it sits, six weeks beyond the holidays and still strung with lights and hung with ornaments, the needles showering to … Read more
I close my eyes, whistle, and send the dogs off into the brush to see if they can scare up any words. I’m not sure how long I sit here –it varies, I suppose, from night to night. When it gets quiet like this, though, and I can’t even hear the rustling or baying of … Read more
To surface each morning already grasping for every precious scrap of consciousness. To dance and blow bubbles and reach instinctively for the brightest colors in the crayon box. To creep through bushes and fling yourself at the world. To howl and holler and feel the grass between your toes. To move forward. To lunge. To … Read more
There were four of them in the car. Three of them were crammed in beside each other in the front seat, drowsy and cursing intermittently and squinting into the harsh sunrise that was splattering off a windshield already made bleary with insect grease. At some point in the night they had run themselves through a … Read more
He was a god like no other. That much was apparent almost right from the beginning. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought there was something sort of funny about the boy; and though you probably won’t find anyone to publicly acknowledge it now, many thought his problems went beyond funny. Lots of … Read more
Richard Riggins had a little red robot that made his bed each morning and put his shoes in neat rows in the bedroom closet. He also had a chimpanzee that played ping-pong with him in the basement. Richard and the monkey liked the same programs on television, and whenever Richard laughed the chimp would bounce … Read more