athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • There are too many imperfections that bleed over into ugly…

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  • I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do. 

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  • adoxography

    Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.

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  • Living or Waiting?

    I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?  

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  • Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never…

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  • Multiples

    I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain.

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  • Big Tears…

    He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.

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  • Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.

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  • My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.

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  • Fire

    I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first.

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  • Mommy’s Angel

    I begged for a guitar for Christmas. I got down on my knees in supplication to Mom one Saturday morn when the snow was knee deep outside, I remember. That’s all she heard that year. I did every chore she gave me with glee, on the outside at least, three quarters my best instead of… Read more

  • Good King Wenceslas

    “I love the way the full moon glistens on the snow when it’s deep and crisp and even like this, not a mark on it,” the good king said. It was St. Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day, the patron saint of stonemasons and bricklayers, the first martyr, stoned to death for blasphemy. He was also the… Read more

  • Gilly and the Peashooters

    “Gilly and the Peashooters” was first published in Appalachian Fusion, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Contemporary Appalachian Writing, Vol 27 Read more

  •   Creation sans fear

    I  don’t have to practice transcendental meditation to create masterworks, maybe I do. Read more

  • Memory is the Truth Glorified

    Memory is the Truth Glorified Dad buffed his shoes, he wouldn’t look at us. “It wasn’t like that. We didn’t have big Christmases when you all were little.” “What do you mean? Presents covered the whole living room. There were dolls with dresses. We both got Chatty Cathys that matched our hair. We got high… Read more

  • My Angels

    On Monday, my twin premature babies will be twenty-six. I shake my head in disbelief. “We were angels before we were born, and we were sent to your tummy for our wings to grow off so we could take care of you.” Big silver two year old eyes looked up at me. He was speaking… Read more

  • There are too many imperfections that bleed over into ugly…

    Read more

  • I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do. 

    Read more

  • adoxography

    Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.

    Read more

  • Living or Waiting?

    I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?  

    Read more

  • Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never…

    Read more

  • Multiples

    I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain.

    Read more

  • Big Tears…

    He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.

    Read more

  • Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.

    Read more

  • My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.

    Read more

  • Fire

    I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first.

    Read more


  • The Last of the Three Wishes

    The genie granted me three wishes and of course the first two came true in a blaze of glory. He told me to be wise with my wishes and I felt that I was, foolishment was meant for sissies, I wanted all my wishes to mean something. To be granted wishes was nothing to sneeze…

  • The Accident

    The first job Lucy had was in Brunetti’s Family Restaurant waiting tables, fast paced and busy. You had to be light on your feet and quick in your head to keep up with the baked steak and chicken and dumplin’s coming out of the kitchen. Who got iced tea with lemon and who didn’t mattered…

  • Remote Learning

    With rigid rigor, the school board called a two hour delay for students in ice and snow before any roads had even been treated after an all night snow storm. Employees were to report on time. In an abrupt change of plans, half  an hour before school was supposed to begin, a remote day was…

  • Hand me downs

    “Let’s go to Goodwill,” said Ian. “I need to get Mom a birthday present.” He knew there was nothing I wanted more than an antique butter dish with a lid, and the best place to find it was at a thrift shop. Goodwill came to his mind first. Thrift shops carried specialty items. Like the…

  • Vocabulary Promise

    The truth is a burning promise I have to live up to or lie about. Truth comes in lots of flavors. It’s easier to lie and ignore what’s in front of me sometimes. Knowing what I have to do to live up to the standards of school, or home, or law. I’d rather live one…