“He who never has a garden, and knows naught of flowers, and never looks back into the earthly paradise,—he is but a slave and serf of the plough, and is accursed.” — Francis Daniel Pastorius (quoted in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XVIII, Ch. XXXI, Sec. 2)
Some of the stories and poems may be inappropriate for persons under 16
- A Dog by the Ears
- Abrumpo
- After the Dreaming
- Albuquerque, 1996
- All the Sobbing Cops
- apple strudel
- At Kahun, for the Health of the Mother and the Child
- burning man
- Candlelight and Flowers
- Casserole Man
- Christmas Pictures
- Dehiscence
- Descartes’ Dreams – Intro
- Desserts for the Reading of the KJV
- Dolomite
- Dropping back to Punt
- Eighth Dream – The Lion Sleeps Tonight
- eleanor in uncertain way, pulling
- Entomology
- Exit Interview
- Extinguisher (with Unpacking the Object)
- Fifteen Small Apocalypses
- Fifteenth Dream – The, uh, target
- First Dream – Puttin’ on the Ritz
- Fourteenth Dream – By the Waters of Babylon
- Fourth Dream – Motherless Child
- Franny & Toby
- Gnats
- Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pickles and Fries
- Guys Come in Three Sizes
- High Street: Lawyers, Guns & Money in a Stoner’s New Mexico
- Howl
- Introduction
- Karen and the Dropout
- Kimberly!
- King of the Wire Rings
- latrodectus, loxosceles, lycosa tarentula
- Lawn
- Legal Advice
- Liberation
- Linear Perspective
- Lost Things and Missing Persons
- mama when she’s really pretty
- Metronome
- My Friend!
- Ninth Dream – Descartes’ Dreams
- Poems 2001-2010
- Rag Doll
- Road Rave
- Sandhills
- Saved
- Shelving
- Shod
- Sixteenth Dream – Scoring Six Hits
- Tahoe
- Taking Calls
- Tale of the Tribe
- Tenth Dream – The Vicissitudes of the Seasons
- The Comedian
- The Congenital Fiance
- the german for it, the french
- The Gordon Lish Notes
- The Hole of Sharon
- The Italian Story
- The Lock
- The Take-Out
- the talking french cat
- The Tellings
- The Tiny Toy Train
- The Usual Story
- The Well-Molded Military Brick
- The Year Our Children Left
- Third Dream – A Thousand Times No
- Three Very Short Fictions
- Tossing Baby to the Tiger
- Twelfth Dream – Fantod
- Vitrine
- Wednesday
- What Coy Said
- Who, what, etc.
- Yellowjacket
- Yttat
I can’t see ‘garden’ and not think of the blooming junipers. I hope you’re feeling better today.
Thank you. I am feeling better now. The night was a nightmare (endless delirious dreams of Facebook and broken bones), followed by an exhausting early morning of painful wet coughing. My presence at the office was desirable, so I went in, rigged up a couple chairs to sit and nap in while I waited for something I needed to be there waiting for, did the necessaries and nothing else, and came home early. Once home, I lay down with a cup of tea and a book, drank and read, took another short nap, and am feeling much better. Dreading tonight a little, though. Don’t want to go again through what I went through last night. I got up early this morning thinking, “This is the way I’m going to die,” and feeling very blue.
Lots and lots of pillows tonight, you don’t want to lie down flat. Maybe a long hot shower before bed to clear your chest, and one last cup of sleepy-time tea. Sweet dreams.
I slept propped up most of the night. Woke at 11:00 and my wife brought me a shot of brandy (old-fashioned nighttime cold remedy), then I slept till 1:00 sitting up. Slid down then most of the way, woke at 5:30 coughing and saying, “I’m all right, I’m all right,” between coughing fits, as I don’t want my wife to be alarmed. I’m not going to the office today. Shortly I will be going back to bed for a while.
(Love, Mom.)
That sounds like a miserable night. I’m glad you’re staying home today, hope you get some rest.