Parking Lot Sake

     On a blistering Tuesday afternoon a man stood out in the parking lot as we were all leaving the office for taco specials down at Macha’s. He held a large white umbrella over a wooden table that came up to his chest.
     I went over with Bryce to see what the small sign hung over the box said. We got close enough to smell a strongly fermented aroma at the same moment the sign spelled down its length “Free Sake.”
     The man smiled as I accidentally met his eyes. He was shorter than even I was.
     He let go of the umbrella and it wiggled the table it was fixed onto. “Would you like some? Yes, please, it is good and free.”
     Normally I was the cautious one, but Bryce said, “Hey, is this legal?”

Powers Disclosed

Clamoring for heroes to save us
or wishing we had weapons against fear,
we forget that we are superhuman
with the power of a kind word,
a hug or kiss, encouragement in all its forms,
our weaknesses echoing, flares in the dark;
we are a variegated pattern of love
made in the image of a God who cares,
who lets us experience the joy and greatness
involved in bringing salvation
to a world in need of light.

So Serious Saturday #29

Fiction needs a basis in reality. Exercising non-fiction muscles once in a while benefits an active imagination, channeling creative energies as it focuses on a subject. So Serious Saturdays will be an active place for critical essays or writing about reality in the context of real events - even when it is not written on Saturdays.

Type: Philosophical/Journal

We Are the Ant Men

          I took a broken end of a broom handle and jabbed it into the plumb black spider I had cornered in a stucco well.
          It died on initial impact. No one’s suffering had to linger.
          I wiped its crumpled body across the concrete and tried to see if I could still recognize any observable parts. The spider was not so plump as before, but still leggy.
          I returned to the flower beds for a moment to see if any other creature had decided to come out to view my weeding. When I sat back on my haunches again, the remains of the spider had attracted interest from the steady ant stream along the concrete alleys.

So Serious Saturday #28

Fiction needs a basis in reality. Exercising non-fiction muscles once in a while benefits an active imagination, channeling creative energies as it focuses on a subject. So Serious Saturdays will be an active place for critical essays or writing about reality in the context of real events - even when it is not written on Saturdays.

Type: Philosophical/Inspiration

Self-Image, As Reflected By A Doll

          I was watching the local news when I saw a story about a girl receiving a doll with a prosthetic leg. The story could have stopped there, with the idea of how toy makers should create wider diversity in dolls, but what made the video go viral was how the little girl reacted.   

         Oh, and did I mention the little girl also has a prosthetic leg?

Campus Ruin

To UCLA:

Helpless,
I stare at the news broadcast,
unable to change events.
I have no powers of flight –
no shields, no blast rays
nor guns; no gift to
make it disappear.

All I have are words.

I Had a Pocketwatch Locket

I Had a Pocketwatch Locket

You tore the hinges from my heart,

held separate parts suspended

 for you and me, and you, and me

to close the beats leaves unsecure

the ends we neither hoped for nor foresaw –

when I let you

see the inner workings poured and set

without minding more those delicate gears

set for an acceptable time

when answers are

mistaken as false alarms

which wake the dormant passions

never allowing us to rest

when I cannot

reset my alarm to any other moment

knowing time has bolted

whenever you expect features

beyond my model years

when a pocketwatch

cannot survive a wave, a fall, and a rending

of the mechanisms allowing its existence

as a keeper without memory

Hugo Proved Correct

Hugo Proved Correct

A thousand touches all it takes
To light my heart aflame,
The blaze begun before that time;
A single glance to blame.