words after

On parallel paths, they pulsed through the thickening crowd. Swirls of light and color gave rhythm to the coarse, moonless night. She marched toward a dream, glancing off elbows and shoulders, spinning in distraction, but not losing sight of her target. The purple tent in the foothills of the great machines promised forbidden wonders. The [...]

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§293 · May 17, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , , ,


I had never been to the cottage in winter and my first thought was to wonder if the pond would be frozen. I was not ready to find meaning in his brief note. There was a part of me that rebelled against the idea of being summoned like this, without a phone call or explanation. [...]

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§251 · May 6, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , ,


He left the country before I completed my program. His wife, a painter of shadows, craved a more ethereal setting for inspiration. They did not want to raise their children in the California sunlight and school system. I was grateful he told me before the university announced his resignation, and I was not entirely surprised [...]

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§243 · May 6, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , , ,


I finished the book, entranced by the personal meaning I gathered from the story. He wrote with passion, and I understood why he had become successful, if not why that success led him to feel guilty for his loss. He sought treatment for grief, but what he perceived of as grief, seemed to me to [...]

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§230 · April 27, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , , , ,


On Monday morning, I peeked into Lenore’s office. She inhabited the sunroom behind the kitchen, and it suited her well. She displayed her oil paintings on the wall that used to be on the outside of the house. Each of our spaces seemed to be an extension of ourselves, creating an environment that felt more [...]

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§216 · April 24, 2009 · Uncategorized · 2 comments · Tags: , , , , , , ,


I did not recognize him the next time we met. By then, my partners had returned and we were settling back into our Saturday morning baking meetings. When we had first remodeled the bungalow, the contractor suggested we turn the dining area and kitchen into useable office space. We unanimously rejected his plans, choosing instead [...]

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§206 · April 22, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , ,


Rich tones chimed from the cathedral down the street, attracting worshipers to the convenient seven o’clock midnight mass. I had developed a love of ceremony as a young graduate student, trailing my mentor from service to service. At first I had simply sought his praise for my enthusiasm. After I had secured his attention, I [...]

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§196 · April 21, 2009 · Uncategorized · 4 comments · Tags: , , , , ,


I do not know why I was so uncomfortable with our first meeting. From his intake record, I knew he had requested a grief counselor. The service assigned new patients based on a system that could have paired him with any of my partners. Most of our cases involved grief counseling; death, divorce, retirement, and [...]

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§173 · April 17, 2009 · Uncategorized · 2 comments · Tags: , , , , , , ,


He said she couldn’t take his truck, but never imagined it would become his home.  He didn’t blame her.  He thought there were two types of people in this world, and it had nothing to do with pessimism and optimism.  It was all about blame.  People either took credit, or blamed someone else when things [...]

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§159 · April 9, 2009 · Uncategorized · 4 comments · Tags: , , , , , ,


My toes refuse to translate the nightmares between them. I dig deeper in sand, leaving cells penetrated by my own visions. My body is carried to distant people. Do they speak the language of my dreams? Can they see my visions if they are blind? Do they hear the crackle of the fires that burned [...]

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§155 · April 4, 2009 · Uncategorized · Comments Off · Tags: , , , , , ,