Here in a valley grown with weeds, that hill
above us looking down, I see a mill
and hear its creak and smell the fresh-ground flow
that cooking made so sweet. And here I know Continue reading »
Apr 262009
The following took place in Ooltewah, Tennessee. It is one of those stories that has never left me, although it took place sometime in the late 1960′s. Continue reading »
Apr 152009
If I could, I would slide out of bed and into the pool. Every morning at six. Then the laps. Thirty six to the mile, half an hour in the cooling flow of water, counting down the distance.
My left hand is getting better all the time. It used to start the pull too soon. The timing now is smooth and the stoke constant. It has taken years of daily swimming to accomplish this. Continue reading »
Apr 142009
I learn about life from naked men in the swimming pool locker room in the morning before work. One pool I go to has a lot of older guys, mostly retired. They talk about things the doctor told them, reasons their children are getting divorced, what their wives want them to do when they get home, or what somebody ought to do about the country. I was half listening as one guy told about taking the family to a restaurant for dinner. Until he quoted what the little girl said out loud at the table: Continue reading »
