Raul is a kind man who plays marimba in a salsa band at LA clubs late into the night. Some afternoons he plays

Cookies for George, 40 years back from Viet Nam, are the only payment the man will accept to mow your lawn,

Lightning bolts in childhood can scar the soul forever. They’re a satanic baptism when the minister’s your father, mother, brother, sister,

All that hair trapped in a braid silver to the waist Opal this morning nude in the mirror

You start by throwing things out packing things that will fit in a smaller place, selling stuff that won’t, ignoring the birds because the seed’s run out

Herb’s a middle-age son with a big family and lots of pressure. Too busy to care for Mom and Pop so he drives to Shady Lane to see if he thinks they might like the p…

A drunk on the subway tells another drunk something a bartender told him. He says if the rich guy wins, it will be the first time

Forget the fall equinox. Fall arrives when all the moths that dance on summer nights around the porch light disappear when the first cold dawn appears.

She has wanted to be Miss America since third grade when she won the… in Snow White and the Seven Dwar… Now a finalist, she has told the j… she wants to lecture at colleges o…

It’s your anniversary so you’re thinking steak but your wife wants ramen so you go to a nice place and order the fancy ramen

A student asks the old poet why he has spent so many years writing. The old poet says no one’s asked him that before. He needs a minute to answer.

My wife’s amazed when I station myself at the computer writing this or that despite a hound dog

In that backyard three small trash cans had their place next to each other against the house.

My father never talked much about religion but he went to Mass every Sunday, the 6:30 Mass where few people would be and he wouldn’t have to deal with friends and neighbors. His contrib...

I have an old friend who was told some time ago he had six months to live. We live far apart now and he told me about this in an email shortly after the doctor told him. The six months ...