Licked by a toad Look around your nest and see if the coast is clear. I hear a bullfrog croak and that I know for sure. Cautious if you are alone, I would not go outdoors Kindly, hang out, wait for my sign and stay…

Hour Eleven: Old Tree Limbs tangled, twisting, entwining each other, like children playing Twister or the perfect Eagle pose centuries of wind sweeping across the desert nudging the winding of supple bark now hardened into wizened shape. The tree barely leaves yet stands even now…

2am stoned out of my mind always sunny on tv tears streaming down my face

    There are Times     There are times when my side aches as my ribs go in and out in reaction to what someone has said. My smile bursts with concavity and I show plenty of teeth.   Other times I react to…

Sporadic chattering, the twisted breasts of a tree, like an aging woman turning to look behind her, arms outstretched above her head. Is she stepping out of the shower? Why is the bark so smooth? Shining like wet skin. A talking smile speaks with rolling…

I looked down the line of other students’ hands. Their skin was white and plump, like they never had to pick a bean in their lives. They didn’t have to earn a dollar in the fourth grade. I put my hands together, hoping to cover…

Every time I left the house went to a restaurant or a store I’d hold their hands It wasn’t weird I was little I liked it All was right in my world It gave me reassurance that I knew where they were and where I…

My daughter channeled Ethel Merman when she was little. She barked out her observations in decibel levels capable of cutting through any acoustic barrier and with such delight that during those days I would have dared anyone to be around her and remain serious.  …

In France when it’s time to take a photo we don’t say Camembert, brie or cheddar But call out a monkey Oustiti! feel the corners of your mouth and eyes wrinkling as you say it

His joy spills out in rumbling, and deep, rolling peals Hers reminds me of fizzing and bouncing, Like those wonderful bath bombs Hers is soft and bubbly, sometimes exploding into rhythms of squeals, leaving no question of delight. Their little one attempts to mimic both….