A trip to Safeway to pick up prescriptions for my mother: sunflowers, in six-dollar bunches by the door; rotten eggplant neatly stacked in the produce aisle; hard tomatoes and wilted bell peppers at prices few people can afford. And I think, There used to be a field here. Oh, what I could do with a field just a quarter of the size of the Safeway parking lot. The dreams I […]
from crooked streets these bare feet greet a starling river . [ 1062 ]
last year’s apples — this year’s prices — like the other thoughts I set aside March 29, 2021 Canvas 872 April 6, 2017 . [ 1061 ]
sparrows on the path we can only go this way quietly singing . [ 1060 ]
I spent part of yesterday afternoon weeding the front slope. Leaning against the mossy retaining wall, I did the work by hand, one weed at a time, my right hand pulling, my left planted firmly on the ground. As I went along, I also used my right hand as a rake, massaging every inch of the moist, aromatic soil, my hand being massaged in return. This went on for an […]
We are the only beings intelligent enough to drug ourselves, poison our food, wear synthetic shoes, stay indoors, and breathe foul, recycled air. Poor birds! Poor animals! Poor dumb creatures everywhere! March 22, 2021 Canvas 990 August 6, 2017 . The Finger Sketches The finger sketches. The thumb hums along. Suddenly the thumb stops. What is wrong? The finger stretches. Is it the palm? The breath catches. The mind fetches. […]
It’s still too cold for a barefoot walk through the wet grass. And yet I’m tempted. Let it be a short walk, across the yard and back. Hands on one of the broad limbs of the fig tree, I listen to the neighbor’s firs creaking in the wind. Lines; grooves; the pigmentation of aged but youthful skin. It’s not that I’m afraid to let go; it’s the earth’s grounding force […]
between juniper and pine / I find / nothing / of mine / needs saving March 18, 2021 Canvas 865 March 28, 2017 . [ 1052 ]
Cold water morning — no bluff — not even death. March 17, 2021 . [ 1051 ]
how serious I am / is a laugh / away March 15, 2021 Canvas 860 March 15, 2017 . [ 1049 ]
William Michaelian 