bioluminescence
In the dark, the bracelets look like glowworms wriggling over each other.
ewes
Their singing sounds like gentle pleading.
liqueur
Orange liqueur burns my throat and settles with bittersweet warmth in my head.
predicted
Beside a windy leaf-strewn path in the park, he talks about his break-up. We nod in sympathy. We don't let on that we could see it coming months ago.
raucous
Staid men, pillars of the community, holler like frat boys. It's supposed to be a display of joyful exuberance, but it frequently comes across as forced.
ribbony
Chairs in disarray, people nibbling on chicken as others pray. The afternoon festivities wind on in unfocused joy.
tempo
A man in medieval garb hums under his breath as he cuts past the bicyclists in the park.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
An Unexpected Descent
Bartleby Snopes recently published a short story I wrote called "An Unexpected Descent."
You can read it here.
Enjoy! (Though be forewarned, it's a grim tale…)
You can read it here.
Enjoy! (Though be forewarned, it's a grim tale…)
Week in Seven Words #190
alias
He introduces himself by one name and gives me a business card with a different one. "They're both my names, in a way," he says without further explanation.
brisk
Windswept park benches are my new favorite place to read.
commiserating
It feels good to talk to someone who understands family dysfunctions and can laugh about them mirthlessly with you.
mannerless
They press against the tables and gouge the food platters.
punctured
She's a shrewdly cute old woman, but it's easy to imagine her fifty years younger, lording it over her children, deflating them.
relics
Her apartment contains antiques, stained glass, and undisturbed shadows.
sanguineness
We drag our chairs out into the sunlight and talk about how to be inspired.
He introduces himself by one name and gives me a business card with a different one. "They're both my names, in a way," he says without further explanation.
brisk
Windswept park benches are my new favorite place to read.
commiserating
It feels good to talk to someone who understands family dysfunctions and can laugh about them mirthlessly with you.
mannerless
They press against the tables and gouge the food platters.
punctured
She's a shrewdly cute old woman, but it's easy to imagine her fifty years younger, lording it over her children, deflating them.
relics
Her apartment contains antiques, stained glass, and undisturbed shadows.
sanguineness
We drag our chairs out into the sunlight and talk about how to be inspired.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Three Du Maurier Stories from Don't Look Now
Collection: Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne du Maurier
Author: Daphne du Maurier
For some of the stories, I didn't accept the premise; sometimes there was an over-reliance on coincidence and clairvoyance. But even in those cases, I enjoyed the atmosphere of the story.
Du Maurier is great at upending reality and writing about people who, in one way or another, are trapped in their own minds. They perceive a reality that they can't communicate to others; other people don't want to (or can't) understand them or believe them. Everywhere they go, they're failed by family, friends, the police, doctors, everyone we usually think can help. She understands this kind of terror and isolation. Even when one of her characters experiences clairvoyance, which you'd think would give them a greater understanding of what's going on around them, they're still blind in all the ways that matter.
Her stories will definitely stick with you. These are the three I liked best:
Author: Daphne du Maurier
For some of the stories, I didn't accept the premise; sometimes there was an over-reliance on coincidence and clairvoyance. But even in those cases, I enjoyed the atmosphere of the story.
Du Maurier is great at upending reality and writing about people who, in one way or another, are trapped in their own minds. They perceive a reality that they can't communicate to others; other people don't want to (or can't) understand them or believe them. Everywhere they go, they're failed by family, friends, the police, doctors, everyone we usually think can help. She understands this kind of terror and isolation. Even when one of her characters experiences clairvoyance, which you'd think would give them a greater understanding of what's going on around them, they're still blind in all the ways that matter.
Her stories will definitely stick with you. These are the three I liked best:
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Week in Seven Words #189
acutely
Traffic noise pours in through the window with the cold air and sharp lights.
flavorsome
She's brought lunch for her child in a Tupperware container. She peels off the lid and releases the scent of deli meat. For a moment, we can all taste the sandwich.
nimbus
She prefers to straighten her hair, but I like it as it is, in an orange cloud around her head.
outlook
One of the young men speaks about visiting Syria on an idealistic mission of cultural outreach. The other shakes his head and tells him he'll get his throat cut out.
presence
Being present in the moment, experiencing hope but relinquishing expectations.
tranquility
The room is bathed in gray light. I linger for a few minutes, enjoying the calm.
whole-hearted
As the gates close, they crowd in around me. There's an urgency to the chanting and murmuring.
Traffic noise pours in through the window with the cold air and sharp lights.
flavorsome
She's brought lunch for her child in a Tupperware container. She peels off the lid and releases the scent of deli meat. For a moment, we can all taste the sandwich.
nimbus
She prefers to straighten her hair, but I like it as it is, in an orange cloud around her head.
outlook
One of the young men speaks about visiting Syria on an idealistic mission of cultural outreach. The other shakes his head and tells him he'll get his throat cut out.
presence
Being present in the moment, experiencing hope but relinquishing expectations.
tranquility
The room is bathed in gray light. I linger for a few minutes, enjoying the calm.
whole-hearted
As the gates close, they crowd in around me. There's an urgency to the chanting and murmuring.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Interspecies communication: Beluga and mariachi band
This took place in Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut a couple of years ago, where the band had been performing at a wedding.
(I came across the video here.)
Week in Seven Words #188
leftovers
Cold chicken, sandwiches, and an easing of tension.
meltdown
It's an episode of self-destruction. Her senses splinter, her mind pursues the dozen sins and slights she thinks are aimed at her. With a single-mindedness, she runs the evening to the ground. Afterwards, her eyes are suspiciously bright, but she can't see that she shares any part of the fault for how badly the evening went.
rawness
The color of the day is burnt umber. That's what I feel in me: low-key anger that crisps and singes and stirs up the ashes. But I'm at peace from time to time as well. The day is one of shocking beauty.
redemption
Most of the notes are breathy and weak. But the last one comes alive and is held to the limit of human breath.
spun sugar
Weaving fragile lies for the children, so that they'll continue to not put a name to what they might suspect.
tenderfoot
He assumes a humble, pious pose and speaks as one who has little experience of the world. Maybe I'm in too cynical a mood to appreciate what he's saying.
waste
Food leaking from aluminum trays. Liquid on the carpet. Little of what matters is salvageable.
Cold chicken, sandwiches, and an easing of tension.
meltdown
It's an episode of self-destruction. Her senses splinter, her mind pursues the dozen sins and slights she thinks are aimed at her. With a single-mindedness, she runs the evening to the ground. Afterwards, her eyes are suspiciously bright, but she can't see that she shares any part of the fault for how badly the evening went.
rawness
The color of the day is burnt umber. That's what I feel in me: low-key anger that crisps and singes and stirs up the ashes. But I'm at peace from time to time as well. The day is one of shocking beauty.
redemption
Most of the notes are breathy and weak. But the last one comes alive and is held to the limit of human breath.
spun sugar
Weaving fragile lies for the children, so that they'll continue to not put a name to what they might suspect.
tenderfoot
He assumes a humble, pious pose and speaks as one who has little experience of the world. Maybe I'm in too cynical a mood to appreciate what he's saying.
waste
Food leaking from aluminum trays. Liquid on the carpet. Little of what matters is salvageable.
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