My grandmother once rode a train through the middle of a forest fire. I heard the story second-hand from my dad. The family settled in Alpena, he told me, and never returned home to Tower, Michigan. Grandma was four years old. She was born in 1904. Tower is about 15 miles west of […]
How I’m Investing in Self-Care
Hi. I’m Sandra/Sandy/Snady/SHK, and I’m a Tweetspeak Poetry workshopaholic. I want to believe that the investment I make in these workshops will pay off, that I’ll eventually/someday reap what I sow in terms of my bank account. That may or may not happen. But I’m pretty sure that what I invest in self-care is immeasurable […]
A Postpartum Check-In and One Word
I just pulled out a calendar and had to count and recount the weeks we’ve been here. We moved in on December 12. That means not quite six weeks. Am I counting right? It seems longer, but makes me feel better about not yet being settled, especially since we’ve seen Christmas come and go and […]
10 Things I Learned in November
1. Another name for US 1 in the Florida Keys, from Miami to Key West, is the “Overseas Highway.” It crosses the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait. Route 1 runs 2,369 miles from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida, and it’s the longest north-south road in the United States. 2. […]
Feeling the Weight of Time
Feeling the Weight of Time Today I’m feeling the weight of time. I glimpsed myself in the bank’s overhead monitor and saw not an older woman with graying roots and eyebrows in bad need of waxing but a younger version with two dark brown ponytails at a family picnic, remembered trail rides on a summer […]
Sunset in Key West
Sunset in Key West Then the sun melted into the sea, and we who were together for a few moments went our separate ways and melted into the night.
How in the Universe am I Going to Do This Thing?
After Tweetspeak pinned me down to memorize “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (all of it) and after I stopped hyperventilating, I decided to take a bite of the peach with a smile. I rolled up my sleeves and the bottoms of my jeans (I can do that in November in South Florida) and asked […]
Choosing Joy
Choosing Joy Above the sea, morning rises bruised, mottled pink and purple, like it did battle in the dark hours or collided with some celestial bedpost. I watch the sky pass through various stages of healing until it clears. Back at the cottage, I study my new supply of tea leaves with deluxious descriptors […]
The Day After the Election
The Day After the Election I’ve just made another deposit on the house, and I’m on my way back from the bank. As I make my move to turn left from Federal Highway onto Atlantic Boulevard, a giant fluorescent green lizard leaps into my path. I hit my brake. Others hit their brakes. […]
When You’re Without a Dare Care
One never knows when a certain editor might start to crack a dare, so it’s good never let one’s guard down. But there I was on Saturday morning—just sitting on a bench outside our cottage, enjoying the warm breeze as it wafted through the palms. I was watching tiny geckos, snapping a few pictures, and trying […]
