Wild Roses On the border between Millbrook and Pleasant Valley, just off Route 44, there’s a little patch of woods where my boyfriend hanged himself. It happened in 1977, before suburban sprawl spread its tentacles into these small, quiet towns. Strange that that little patch of woods is still there today. &nbsp Last Wednesday evening, Read More …

Memory of Birds A ship in a bottle washes up on a beach. It is found by a boy who jumps from rock to barnacled rock. Bubbled tendrils of seaweed sway in the lapping water, black and brittle above the surface, green and slimy when alive and wet. Fish-life, or salts and iodines, make the Read More …

Such is the Scent of Our Sweet Opalescence One sunny afternoon under clear skies the life of one Uretherer V. Lamb, 63, ‘pataphysician, of Interlachen, Florida, was changed for all time. On July 5, 2015, he was standing beside his ’78 Pontiac—pulled off Interstate I-75 at Mile Marker 395—near the rest stop just north of Read More …

The Halfway Café The Halfway Café was almost empty. You might have thought it was a Monday night, but after you die, there are no Mondays, and no night. There is no work here, no weekends. You might have thought it would be enjoyable not having to work, and for the ones upstairs, I believe Read More …

Jagged Profile The dream was unwelcome when it came. &nbsp The bottom of a stone spiral staircase. Air filled with stone dust and settled incense. I carried a box. A vessel built centuries past. It was fashioned with material obtained from a meteorite. Iron unaffected by earthly time and corrosives. A priest was at my Read More …

Tomorrowscape The future, if you think about it as simply another place to go you’ve never gone before, is bound to have its ups and down, its pitfalls and impasses not that that’s deterred billions of us – refugees from the present – from blithely heading off into the unknown even though we haven’t the Read More …

Ponckhockie Union Right now the air is fresh and bright, warming after a frost. I’m grateful to need neither sweater nor jacket as I sit here on my deck. Sunshine and breeze wrestle to decide which controls the temperature. The lawn glistens, striped by long afternoon shadows of tree trunks, and occasionally the forest shivers Read More …

My Ghost When I was 17, I killed a man. He was very old, and he was walking by the side of the road in the twilight. I was driving my mother’s Chrysler on the way to the movies, with my brother in the passenger seat, my mother in back. The man stepped into the Read More …

The Knowledge “Do you ever think about old Jonny Swiggert?” Bobby asked me. &nbsp We were standing under the awning of Sam’s All-Night Coffee & Donuts, sipping hot coffee from polystyrene cups. Light rain was falling and the autumn air had a winter chill to it. A few metres away, over the parapet, the river Read More …

The Eyes Have It IT WAS quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven’t done anything about it; I can’t think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, Read More …