Month: January 2019

All around me people are complaining about the weather. No one I’ve heard so far has proclaimed how great winter is, how sublime a naked landscape can be. I only hear woe and wail about the cold. I get it. It’s winter. It’s cold. We live in the stormy Midwest…

In Bastogne now, Virginia made it her singular mission to eat a Belgian waffle in Belgium. I was jumpy and anxious and didn’t want to go traipsing around for waffles. I grumbled about it to Udo, who looked at me and said it would be all right, be patient. As…

The semester break has been very good to me, but it is ending on a note of sadness and apprehension. I’ve been able to write 54 new poems in the last month. I’ve posted 12 new essays on this website. I’ve written tens of E-mails, not one-liners or simple notes,…

When Nick asked if he could go sledding with his friends, my heart stopped a second. Of course, I said sure. He’s 16 and can well manage on his own. Plus, he has to have his time independent of the house and of parents. But in the back of my…