No red kettles and bells this December outside the stores at the mall in our suburbs this year. They irritate shoppers,

It isn’t a flophouse where Fred lives now but he calls it that a month after moving in and seeing his fellow

“Tell Pablo I cannot see!” says the man in the Picasso painti… as I pass by, program in hand. The man has a hairy nose where each of his ears should be.

The beauty of gray I never noticed until the other day I saw this mockingbird, a quiet beauty in gray,

He’s Brad and he’s captain of the football team. He’s been chosen prom king and has a scholarship to college. Everything’s going well for him

On their honeymoon he asked her not to sit down. Might bruise the peaches. Donal Mahoney

All lives matter now unless they’re inconvenient. No room in the womb. Donal Mahoney

The guillotine dropped between you and a friend over coffee and small talk. The first time it dropped it was someone who said

The police have announced the arrest of an ecumenical fellow who in less than two weeks in the middle of the night set fir… to seven churches in St. Louis.

Don’t recall meeting a human being at the megastore staffed by robots in the flesh

A group of older men gather once a week to talk about life after a heart attack. Old Len chews tobacco still and tells jokes in a voice so low

After World War II before television, before women had tattoos before men wore earrings, I was a child in a world

This was the first Christmas Billy was old enough to speak when he saw his gifts under the sparkling tree. His parents were waiting

Thirty years I’ve lived in Missou… with its major threat for an earth… So far no problems but experts say the big one could arrive any day. California’s lovely but with its q…

Fred’s a reasonable man something he takes pride in. Just the other night before he threw a dish against the wall while