Like parenting, illness, or losing a job, divorce is one of those things in life you only fully understand once you experience it. Someone once said, “the argument that so many people get divorced, and so many people get cancer, doesn’t make the experience any less grave once you go through it yourself.” Divorce is not […]
moreAll over there is sadness. Over and over again. A circle of years that breathes down your neck and trips you. There is beauty too, all over. A friend’s kiss is as gentle as a butterfly’s wings. As meaningful as a message carved in stone. And there is this: the midget resurfaces from hidden years. […]
more8th January 1983. “Hi, Sorry about the pencil, but I can’t be bothered to find my pencil-case. Electricity is off again. Guess what? I have an ingrowing toe nail, which means a sharp piece of nail grows into your skin. Tomorrow before school we have to go to Martin’s dad who is a doctor. I […]
moreMy mother gave me a box. In it, one of my diaries. It was dated 1987. "Radio still playing the same bullshit, birds talking their endless chatter, flies flying, clouds still move and trees still sway in the wind. God let me fly with the birds and sing their song, or let me be one […]
moreMan and woman sit outside, staring at the sky, drinking wine and talking about things – what things exactly doesn’t matter. As long as there are things. Things to discuss. Things to understand, to know, to feel, to laugh about. Things to share. He stares at a an airplane trail in the distance and thinks, […]
moreTwo women – best friends. One man – who is a High Priest and also happens to be one of the women’s father. The daughter’s friend was called to the High Priest’s court one day. She had done her friend wrong by falling in love with her husband. She had stolen a kiss from him, […]
moreI have had my piano restored. Now comes the confrontation with the passing of time: did I really know how to play this twenty years ago? I sit here looking at the notes and feeling like an entirely different person. I am somehow trying to inhabit the mind and body of a wild and passionate […]
more“But what does empathy actually mean,” he asks. He is being serious. His question is serious. Oh for chrissake. “Well. It means the ability to feel what someone else must be feeling,” she says. She then adds, “I think.” She lays down on the floor, stares at the ceiling. “You’re right. What does it actually […]
more“Thank you,” she says. She says it beneath her breath as I’ve told her many times not to thank me. Please. Do Not Thank Me. I beg you. Don’t. She has gained a lot of weight, but she has never looked more wonderful. Her children are finally with her. She hadn’t seen them in eight […]
moreAnother perfect stranger comes crashing into my home, boisterous and loud. A buff Italian man who has a little ponytail. He’s here to fix up the piano and he doesn’t waste a second. While speaking he’s sticking newspapers to the floor. He glues all his words together and they come out of his mouth as […]
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