Be careful, will you? Things aren’t always as they seem. Why do you trust so easily? Are you naive? Do you know the most easily sold item? Wanna know?  It’s your soul. You. Pacts, Covenants, Contracts — Call them whatever you want, the fact remains the…

When the owner said, “Blue Heeler,” I thought “Blue Healer” because I don’t know anything about dogs, and I imagined a service animal that sees auras and sniffs out sadness   which struck me as odd, given all the Second Amendment art forms scattered around…

Lately I’ve been sleep walking, the lack of energy and emotional imbalances have led me to this space of emptiness. Conversations from my subconscious now merged into my waking life. 423hz frequencies playing softly through my phone trying to tame the fright, flight, and freeze…

A photo of Dale’s pond. He always wanted one. I talked him in to getting it dug. Then the drought set in. This year, finally, it rained. Twenty inches in one month. I photographed the full pond, sent the photo to my son, told him…

Rain Check   Dancing on the brink of the apocalypse is postponed today,   due to rain, sleet, windstorms, and excessive heat.   It is tentatively rescheduled for Thursday of next week,   but might need to be canceled until next year, if conditions don’t…

Something to soothe the storms In my mind Calm the waves rippling worry through my thoughts A way to put the heaviness down Dreaming on canvas as vibrantly As the vivid intensity that awakens me.   Mandy Austin Cook

It came Six months short Of when the vet said she’d live sixteen year old Lucy fell down fourteen stairs. The fall brought to a close what had been months of despair. “Don’t let her jump!” “Carry her, please, to her chair.” Gone was the…

Walking between log cabins, raindrops streak silver from roof to garden bed watering a nest of ferns. Kayaking across clear waters, the lake smooth as mirror-glass, only broken by leaping fish and the wake of the boat. It is a matter of respect to keep…

Here is where I can sit for hours, here in this place, on this bench, where I watch the Ohio River glide by. Sometimes when I am especially quiet I see families of white-tailed deer stepping delicately into the river for a morning drink. Sometimes…

One two step satin finishes follow the swaying hips sacheying fondly on marble graceful! hands full on the waltz.