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Shunning is done with silent delight.
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It wasn’t the right plant for the right place like she’d hoped.
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It was a monumental act of kindness.
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I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked. But I didn’t have a dress, so I made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not
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“Your ideas are weird. We don’t want to play with you anymore,” said first grader Selene to first grader me. We were writing a script for a play everyone didn’t know they already knew the words to. They were such babies. I figured the first grade debacle was just frustration over writing the script, and
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She twirled and emerged from the rose that was her dress. The petals, layers of dark crimson velvet and rose red chiffon fell around her pirouettes and toe shoes. She leapt through the air. All eyes were on her. Grace and glory. A vision of beauty in time and space, she couldn’t have been more
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He wasn’t sure he could stay up that late. It was a fluke that he was awake at this hour.
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When I got to college the world changed.
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The lights went low and laser lights, mirror balls, black lights, and neon blazed.
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The principal smiled a cold smile. He didn’t like my question.
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Defensive Secrets
“You majored in theatre in college, in your twenties and thirties, you were active in community theatre and children’s theatre, you taught theatre, yet you never took your boys to a play or got them involved in theatre when they were little. Why is that?” the news anchor asked me. I had been expecting this Read more
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Mom’s Roadtrip
Mom lost her mind and married Roebuck. None of the kids could stand him, but she was entitled to her midlife crisis, same as anyone else. Since his house burned down on their first date, something about gunpowder gun cleaning equipment and an explosion, such a catastrophe, that they moved to Texas soon after they Read more
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My Cloister
Smile. I biked to the cathedral in the spring. I was an overweight 40 year old American woman on a bike tangled in British traffic. The underpass near the roundabout before the cathedral was scary, traffic came from everywhere and all directions. I should not have survived the rides into town. That’s the cloister walk. Read more
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Dear Creativity
Dear Creativity, It’s time we stopped piddling about and started dancing together. Since I was little, you’ve been working against me instead of with me. You and I have been out of time and one ingredient shy of success since I was born, and you know it. You left me in the dust, or did Read more
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Running out of Time in Dante’s Spiral
“Turn in your papers.” “I’m not finished. You didn’t give us enough time,” said Jason. “You had two days to copy ten sentences correctly. That was enough time,” I said. “I wasn’t listening, that’s not fair. I’m calling my mom,” said Jason. Pressure. I wasn’t listening either. I wasn’t listening half of the time when Read more
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Leonard’s Top 10
Leonard’s Top 10 My current favorite book is Elmore leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing. It might be my favorite. It has pictures. It is what a book should be. It is complete. It is auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, if you get the hardback, which I did. Twice. This book is special. My first copy Read more
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Shunning is done with silent delight.
-
It wasn’t the right plant for the right place like she’d hoped.
-
It was a monumental act of kindness.
-
I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked. But I didn’t have a dress, so I made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not
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“Your ideas are weird. We don’t want to play with you anymore,” said first grader Selene to first grader me. We were writing a script for a play everyone didn’t know they already knew the words to. They were such babies. I figured the first grade debacle was just frustration over writing the script, and
-
She twirled and emerged from the rose that was her dress. The petals, layers of dark crimson velvet and rose red chiffon fell around her pirouettes and toe shoes. She leapt through the air. All eyes were on her. Grace and glory. A vision of beauty in time and space, she couldn’t have been more
-
He wasn’t sure he could stay up that late. It was a fluke that he was awake at this hour.
-
When I got to college the world changed.
-
The lights went low and laser lights, mirror balls, black lights, and neon blazed.
-
The principal smiled a cold smile. He didn’t like my question.
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Well, you never asked…
Your eyes filled with tears-Why didn’t you let me help?Well, you never asked.Can I come as well?I’m bouncing from foot to foot.Well, you never asked.Why don’t you join meSwinging arms, walking, skipping?Well, you never asked. Well, you never asked….is a statement about you or me. I could make it all about me, or all about…
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Longing: 2 Haiku
Longing: 1 HaikuClosing my eyes andWanting what hasn’t been gainedSmiling wistfullyLonging: 2 HaikuSpending time aloneI rub my hand o’r my heartA weight in my chest
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Thank you, Mr. Sullivan
I suppose the Appalachian tradition of giving kids weird names, Stanley Hugo, Ervin Otto, or even Oral Homer was part and parcel of growing up in the isolation of the hollers. I was the last of the kids to get a holler name before we moved out to the suburbs, I suppose.My brother got stuck…
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Report Card
My son is judging me. If he were to give me a report card it would be how long do I stay awake when I come home from school, how much time do I spend writing, how often and well do I cook for him, how clean do I keep my room, how clean do…
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Norris and the Easter Bunny
Norris heard the rustling in the living room last night before I did. Thinking the worst, he leapt out of bed, and snagged my cheek with his back claw, narrowly missing my eye. Blood poured from the gash he left. There would be a scar. Dammit Norris. While he hotfooted it to the stirring in…
Devonne Brown 