When the story never changes

One of the tragedies of adulthood is that you start to see, over time, that some of the people around you will never change. Because most people do change. Personality traits may be fixed, but they're not stagnant. They're like water - they drift in a certain direction over time, carrying you through your life, … Continue reading When the story never changes

The dark side of darkness

I love a moody setting. A moody aesthetic. I'm all for the dark side of romance. I like art with a side of "holy shit that's twisted." What I'm not into? When romantic darkness turns into real-life harm. In literature, for me, it's a line - it depends on how it's presented. I'm a fan … Continue reading The dark side of darkness

Post-liminality

The last six months of my life have been turmoil. They've also been weirdly productive. And I don't mean productive the the corporate American work ethos sense of the word, but in the sense that things were flowing, and I handled what I had to handle, and I was fairly calm the entire time. You … Continue reading Post-liminality

Setting

I've been in a strange liminal space lately - physically, chronologically. Not entirely within my own life but not outside of it either. I've sought out other transitional spaces as I float here. It was getting cold and windy the day I took these photos. Late afternoon. Cloudy. Eerily quiet except for the wind. Returning … Continue reading Setting

Flower therapy

I've been taken for quite a ride by my kidneys this past month and I've had to accept that I have to stop doing things and rest. The silver lining is that it's allowed me to stop and appreciate the little things around me. The wildflowers I grew all around my yard. The hummingbirds that … Continue reading Flower therapy

“As small as a world…”

I have a chronic illness that impacts various organs - including my liver and kidneys. I fully understood that this was going to get worse, but it caught me off-guard a bit in August when my right kidney went a bit haywire and I needed two surgeries to fix it. Being able to tune out … Continue reading “As small as a world…”

Appetence

Defined as intense desire, strong appetite, a craving or an inclination. Appetence is the story of an awakening, a discovery, and a loss. One of its poems will be published in a literary journal in October. Currently revising the draft for submission. This narrative came out quickly and tore things up along the way. It's … Continue reading Appetence

Personal folklore

I never met one of my sets of grandparents - they both died in the decade before I was born. My grandmother went first, though she was apparently stubborn about it, and the family tradition has it that my grandfather died of a broken heart. His death certificate claims it was kidney failure, but according … Continue reading Personal folklore

Saturation

Saturation is a much more interesting word than one might think. To be so filled that nothing more can be absorbed. To such a full extent that it's no longer necessary or desirable. The purity of a color. In qualitative research (which is part of my day job expertise), there's a phenomenon known as saturation, … Continue reading Saturation