Some Words About Proverbs

Some Words About Proverbs

I’ve played my part as tourist in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, I skipped out of the way of ring-chiming bicycles. I drank Amstel beer under an awning while an afternoon rain dotted the surface water of the Singel canal. I nearly petted the head of an approachable...
Searching for George, Dan, and Fergus

Searching for George, Dan, and Fergus

George is in China now, buried there. Or maybe not. Maybe he was cremated, his ashes flung into Beijing smog—I’ll never know. But one thing is certain: this son of New England is not in America. Alice, the woman who married him in his 80s as he began his decline,...
Insomnia, 3:45 AM

Insomnia, 3:45 AM

I’m up because I can’t stay down. I could blame the aspen raking a branch across the window. Or a wounded toy in the next room sending off a distress call of three long beeps. Or my wife, Jacqui, dreaming again of babies swimming inside her like tadpoles—maybe she...
Born Naked

Born Naked

The first time I met my husband, he was wearing a single-breasted, peacock-blue suit made of silk. In the khaki and navy blazer culture that was Washington, D.C. at the time, Mario stood out. With his continental name, olive skin, and sartorial flair, many assumed he...
Nocturne

Nocturne

Now, I could see only violet flashes of heat lightning playing in the clouds over New Jersey. Other than the vespertine chorus of crickets and tree frogs chirping and trilling in the overgrown gardens that encroached the colonial-era, fieldstone house I was...