Honey Cake
Before she died, she wore an orange ruffle to her 100th birthday party, now photographs on the walls, earth-tone paintings, the same shade as a coverlet thrown across her queen-sized bed where I watch cooking programs until I fall asleep, holed up in her town-house near the Catalina Mountains, two suitcases and a computer, an […]
Mustang
I’m on vacation from Chicago and visiting my girlfriend in Louisiana. Kathy and I met in college where we played on the same basketball team. This is my first time visiting the South. The plan is to drive to New Orleans the next day for the Jazz Fest. “Hey, Bev. Can you take the car […]
The Bottom Line
I will miss you the most in the evening after the dishes are put away and I’ve retired to the bedroom knowing there’s nothing on TV to hold my interest, pull back the sheets and expect you to enter the room holding a glass of something cold, jiggling ice cubes until you set them down […]
Change the Louisiana State Slogan
It seems odd that the Louisiana state slogan on its license plate is Sportsman’s Paradise. I am not a sport in the way that the slogan implies (hunting or fishing), nor am I a man. With such a gender specific state slogan, Louisiana has eliminated half of its population. But it’s not all about being […]
Stormy Weather
A storm begins as a harmless patter, a shuffle on the pavement, an occasional trip-trap coming down at the same tempo, target practice increasing in accuracy until its velocity becomes more insistent, a spring downpour, the ahhing of earth absorbing moisture, then rain plays a trick, comes down in lashes, a punishment for hours and […]
Making Friends With the Lawn
Lawns were work. Not only did people have to cut them, but just like in Ecclesiastes, there was a time to scatter seeds, a time to fertilize, and a time to spray for bugs. It seemed endless, a weekend ritual of cutting grass, grass that always grew back. It was like Sisyphus rolling a rock up a hill, and then it rolling back down again. Wby?
Dental Hygiene
The dental hygienist didn’t talk about her boyfriend or her latest home improvement project or even the movie she saw on Netflix, so funny, she couldn’t stop laughing. She yanks a blue hydration tube. Bangs cover her eyes, a mask hides her mouth. She is a friendly mole dressed in a smock with pictures of […]
Two Places Now Available for Purchase
“Lenore Weiss’ psychic linguistic engagement borders on the transcendent, the mystical and familiar.”
–Sharon Doubiago, author and member, PEN Oakland
The Turtle Knows the Way
On my trip back from the gym today, I saw a bump not too far from the house and slowed down. It was a turtle. I remembered how this time last year, a mama turtle had visited our back yard and spent a half-day digging up a place in the mud to deposit her eggs. […]
Mother’s Day
One of those toad strangler storms. Can’t see. Lakes filling up on the front lawn. I’m swept into the bayou, in pajamas, a stick of balsa bobbing for help. Warnings about snakes, moccasins. Front face. See our house, know I’m not getting there any time soon. Shit. Mother’s Day and you were going to take […]