Worn, faded spots on the paperback cover testify to the numerous times it has been pulled from the shelf. The leaves are edged with a soft brown halo. Creases in the spine reveal my favorite poems. This book has been a life-long companion. It offered me the first glimpse of poetry with the power to move me. Indelible images …[MORE]

I spent the weekend wallowing in great old movies. On the agenda:

McLintock!
Call Northside 777
The 400 Blows
Key Largo
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
The Haunting

You can keep your CGI and special effects. Give me script, script, script.

Dumbo and Yoda were litter mates, two identical black and gray tabby cats. I adopted them as kittens, so they spent a lifetime together. I called them my little bookends. Wherever one appeared, the other was always nearby.

For several years, we shared a quiet, suburban house on a sleepy little street. The cats spent a lot of time outside, …[MORE]

I spent all yesterday in the dentist’s chair, and all today recovering from the trauma.

It’s not that I forgot the blog, it just paled in importance.

I think I’ll be back in the saddle tomorrow.

It was a very Zen sort of day, dedicated to clearing up clutter.

I don’t collect a lot of stuff, and I don’t bring a lot into the house. But I’m really, really bad to just set things down wherever I happen to be standing. Eventually, every surface becomes a collection of random crap.

Putting things away today felt good. Having …[MORE]

Twenty-five things I want to do, have or be before I die: this seemed like an interesting exercise. I determined to omit those things I already do, have or am, regardless of how important they are for me. I was only about ten items into the list when I began to struggle. By fifteen items, I was really reaching. I’m not sure I can come …[MORE]

Assuming I don’t have to go out in it, I love a good rainstorm. The overcast skies give me a reason to turn on warm lamps inside. The distant rumbling of thunder makes for a nice bass line to the background music of the rain. When everything is slow and quiet and waiting, that’s when …[MORE]

One of my current guilty pleasures is the FX channel’s series FEUD. It dramatizes the antagonism between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford during and after the filming of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

Jessica Lange does a passable Crawford; Davis could only be played by Susan Sarandon. Both struggle to maintain a steady command of their voice, …[MORE]

Something unsettling happened to me this morning. Recently, when choosing my next book to read, I selected a non-fiction historical account I had read once before, some 6-8 years ago. A second reading seemed due.

I finished it this morning, and that’s when the weirdness began. After turning the last pages, I realized that I had been subconsciously anticipating a part of …[MORE]