The Wizard and the Carpenter
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series ow much built is too much for the natural? How much before it’s unsustainable, even destructive in a permanent way? I don’t know, but I think the answer’s in...
View ArticleWhen the Mermaids Filed a Class-Action Lawsuit
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series t the post office, the clerk wanted to know, “Do you write books?” I had a bunch of padded envelopes addressed to different bookstores, and I told him yes....
View ArticleThe Boy on the Mountain
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series o one could remember why they left the boy on the mountain. Some thought he must have been a sacrifice so the snow caps wouldn’t avalanche. Others recalled...
View Article“For Your Essay, Describe Seven Rivers”
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series 1. I only know one river with a serial killer named after it: the Green River. The bodies of murdered women kept getting found along its banks. This wasn’t...
View ArticleTwo Parables
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series The Story of the Farmer It’s hard work, meeting the needs of a region, so each day the farmer rose at four. He ate toast, poured another cup of coffee, then...
View ArticleStrange Résumés
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series The Housepainter’s Story Since he works with invisible paint, he knows complaints are part of the bargain. They go outside to check the mail, and the house...
View ArticleLandscape with August
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series ossibly, you’ve been wondering: Why do painters get to have all the fun? I mean, check out the Special Supplement to PleinAir Magazine. Its 2022 Event...
View ArticleStill Life with Oceans
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series aybe we’re bound to hear everything once. Like the guy I heard up in Valdez, Alaska, yelling and swearing at the eagles in the trees along shore. A...
View ArticleStill Life with Ghosts
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series his isn’t a typical ghost story, so I might as well say that in advance. For one, it’s a poem. And for two, the ghosts aren’t poltergeists. They’re less...
View ArticleBefore Anyone Was Even Finished,
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series Before Anyone Was Even Finished, the day began again, like the sky had hit rewind. So the people poured more cereal and took another shower. Then it kept on...
View ArticleThe Baker’s Story
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series ve stood in the ice caves on Mount Rainier, but I’ve spent more time in bakeries. Bakeries are environments too, and next month—I’m not making this up—is...
View ArticleThe Submariner’s Story
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series orld Whale Day is the third Sunday in February, so this year it falls on the 19th. I know I can’t be the only one who thinks this isn’t enough, that this is...
View ArticleThe Story of the Cook
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series m not a hydrologist, but I know how to use a water glass. If you drink it down halfway, and then more, and then almost to the bottom, then the only way to...
View ArticleThe Welder’s Story
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series here’s this moment as you head north on I-5 to Seattle where you round a bend and see the Smith Tower (old-style, and not what you’d think of as a high-rise)...
View ArticleA Question for the Anti-Scientists
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series I do have a question, and I’ll get to it right after this poem and four observations: He Starts His Morning with Coffee, then flips the news on to hear what...
View ArticleFighting Words
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series ve been thinking about the Hollywood writers’ strike, and especially their picket signs, signs like, “What we have here is a failure to compensate,” and,...
View ArticleSadness as a Natural Environment
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series ears ago, I did a reading in a gallery. The owner wanted to keep the main lights off. She liked it better that way (“More atmosphere”) and thought the cans...
View ArticleLove Poems as Built Environments
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series n case there’s a misperception out there, love poems aren’t exactly easy. Writers can’t sit around feeling until a love poem appears on the page like the...
View ArticleChocolate, Coffee, Sheep, and Maps
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series drive our son Jameson to school, and sometimes I have the radio tuned to Morning Edition on NPR. The timing is pretty good because now and then, around 8:45,...
View ArticleA Sort of Fall Song
Old Roads, New Stories: A Literary Series hen I was a kid, all my dinosaur books had dragonflies in them too, bright and zooming in the corner of every illustration. And why not?—their inclusion felt...
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