You can’t really know what it’s like to be stranded in a jury room while the team is on campaign, but you can read about it because I hand-typed it. So I was there with 11 or 12 others - not really counting, but rather, thinking, imagining. We were supposed to be talking about her, and if she did it, or if he did, or if his lover did. Rain streamed down the windows, obscuring the view of the adjacent building. A fluorescent light ballast whined. … [Read more...]
Kiss The Bricks: A Project for the Masses.
We have a tendency to give up too early, like when it hurts a little too much. Maybe it happens during a race. Maybe during a relationship. Maybe on the floor of a faraway discotheque. It is certain that the body/mind/spirit have absolute limitations, but rarely on Saturday or Sunday mornings are we anywhere near them.When you are on the bici chasing your neighbors, or the new man in sales, or all of your failures, there is the call of … [Read more...]
The Plan
It was early when I swept the Bourbonneur from his front curb. Fishing-with-Pépé early. The range was extended for the morning, which required an abnormally early sequence initiation. Items were neatly crammed into satchels of various sizes: foil-wrapped sandwiches, cremes of questionable purpose, an assortment of wearable status indicators—stretchy, wind-blocking, synthetic, natural, tight, manly, elite—multiple helmets, shoes, duct tape, spare … [Read more...]
The Sock I Loved, Then Lost.
It took no raindrops for your absence to hurt me, but when they fell, the pain was nourished. Your gentle compression was the hallmark of our relationship. Compression. Compassion. Your surface enveloped my toes in an embrace. You pulled the moisture from them with all your heart. The medial toes grew jealous of big toe and pinky, for by design—and without any chance for change—you afforded them less contact. We all embraced the passion of … [Read more...]
Things I Learned from Him: ’90-’94
It was a pretty standard, which is to say excellent, tutelage I was under as the young me, and at a great time: I was between jobs (I quit my paper route and couldn't yet convince my local shop to hire me), school was under control (I was fine with Cs), and my social life was on cruise control (nobody understood me so who needs friends anyways plus you just don't understand me).Enter Him. He was a family man, which is to say, he was a guy who … [Read more...]