Random Storyteller
Poems, stories, and reflections
The Heirloom Dress
My mother was no-nonsense, even when it came to planning weddings. “For God’s sake, don’t book it on religious holidays: Christmas, Easter, and SEC football season. You’ll have no-shows around New Year’s, spring break, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Mother’s Day is sacred, too. Father’s Day? Oh, men get over it.” “Forget […]
More“The Sea, the Sea—It’s So Empty”
They said the LST could ride higher in the water when landing in trim. She hit the sloping beach, and the bow door fell and disgorged jeeps and tanks and finally men with hands to work. It was gray all round, the water, the sky, ship after ship beside, around, and behind as far as […]
MoreVocabulary Dump: Five Words I Love to Hate
I am all for the First Amendment. Say what you want. However, if I hear these five words again, I will clamp my hands over my ears. Permanently. 1) “AWESOME!” After 15 years of verbal assault, this word is still hanging around. If recaptured by film, the spider in Charlotte’s Web may replace “some pig,” […]
MoreBeautiful Minds, Anguished Minds
Can you see in the dark—in the silent night of a new moon? William Styron saw it. Although acclaim followed the brilliant author of The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie’s Choice, a shadow stalked then swallowed him. Depression. Styron movingly penned his descent into hell and struggle for peace of mind in Darkness Visible: […]
MoreJumble Fever! Never a Dull Moment
Thrift or miss! That’s the weekend mantra. I just hit some no-name junk joints in central Virginia and went color mad. Soft neutrals–what a yawn after several seasons. I crave chaos. Color is creeping back into Ballard Design catalogs. For a while, soft neutrals overran the pages. In contrast, my house looks like a carnival […]
MoreHair Scare: Crème au Chocolat or Medium Brown?
This morning I resolved to face root reality. The fading strands had gathered force. It was the aha-uh-oh moment. Fifty shades of gray–gradations of white to silver to salt and pepper—were sprouting. The vain vision quest launched. I am not of the school that announces, “Be proud of your ‘laugh’ lines. You earned every single […]
MoreMakeup Homework–Long Overdue
My dear reader, I just love saying “dear reader.” It makes me feel quite the English authoress from another age. Ah, but I am yet a lowly blogger in a post-postmodern fracture. Forewarning: Today literature is much on the mind. Before you click and split this rather sprawling blog post, take heed that I do […]
MoreTo Paris–with Love!
What’s up with l’amour in the City of Lights? It’s blazing! President François Hollande hopped a scooter for a putt-putt zip to prove his true love to Julie Gayet. (When the news broke, Hollande’s old lady, Valerie Trierweiler, rushed to the hospital, where she suffered from “emotional shock”—as if smacked by a TGV.) The next […]
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