Stillness After the Storm
The power lines hum,
low and uncertain,
like a man trying to remember
the words to a song…
Spring’s Golden Menace
A sneeze hangs in the air like a threat,
while the oak tree chuckles in yellow confetti.
My car wears a coat of guilty dust,
proof of spring’s indecent proposal.
Listening To Handel
This is where
The melody comes in
And the raging mind has
No choice but to simmer…
Her Roses
And the roses sang,
their song rose, they sang
as the pale couple walked
along a path framed by color…
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations — A Review of the West End Musical
Well deserving of all its awarded accolades, Ain’t Too Proud is a masterpiece of entertainment. It takes you to the highs and the lows of the music industry in the sixties…
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December 31, 2025
The fax machine sprang alive. She waited for it to finish and read the paper. “Good Evening, Ms. Li-Tybalt. My name is Victor Rolfe. I operate a business known as the ‘Order of the Dragon Theatre Troupe.’ You have been selected to participate in one of our most exciting games to be held tonight.”...She crumpled the paper and tossed it towards the shredder. The fax rang again. She just caught the words on the paper. “Ms. Tybalt, I have your son.”
December 31, 2025
A strange darkness crept into my consciousness as I sat there with the broken ornament in my hand. Even the lights on the Christmas tree seemed to dim a bit, as if portending that something ominous approached.
December 30, 2025
I decided as my New Year’s resolution that I would both no longer be taken advantage of and I would collect money for our local food bank. I’ve been doing both.
December 30, 2025
I stared at my cards, feeling the weight settle in on top of me. If even my friends couldn’t take a stalker seriously, how could I expect the police to?
December 29, 2025
Thus assured that I could write a book despite my inexperience, a book that would give me glowing reviews — not to mention comparisons to Mary Higgins Clark — I continued to write page after page, totally immersed in the mystery I was creating.
December 29, 2025
A night in summer
With spiking heat from the walls —
Sunlight grazing us.
Twilight in the dark
As looming as summer waves.
Simple but profound…
December 25, 2025
As I clung to my trees and ornaments, the family began to fall apart. Many loved ones began to distance themselves from my particular form of Christmas joy. Maybe my trees and the joy they brought me in the deep dark winters scared them away?
December 25, 2025
And beyond the street was the place she loved most in the world: the old Waterfront Inn. The gray paint was faded and cracked, the white window frames cracked even more, but the charm remained, leaving a timeless charm that had drawn thousands of guests and travelers to the little 25-room inn on the beach road in the little working-class town.
December 25, 2025
The angels came to visit
On this Christmas Day
With beauty in their eyes
Sending love my way.
December 25, 2025
Will it snow on Christmas Eve?
I think somehow it might,
but only if we’re all asleep,
and Santa’s in flight.
December 25, 2025
“Don’t you think it’s too soon to talk about getting another puppy for Christmas?” I asked, stealing another piece of bacon from the plate. “No,” Carol insisted. “You know how sad Crystal’s been since Mistletoe crossed the Rainbow Bridge.” “You mean since the dog died,” I translated, not being one for euphemisms. “Yes. It’s not good for her to cry all the time. She isn’t even excited about Christmas this year,” my wife replied. “But it’s only been a few weeks…”
December 25, 2025
One night, on her long journey south, the tiniest of owls, a Northern Saw-whet,
stops in a forest of black, wild spruces…
December 24, 2025
Everybody thinks they know the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but all they know is the sanitized version of a fairy tale promoted by Hollywood and Wall Street to sell toys and such. Now I’m not saying Rudolph didn’t have a shiny nose. Good Lord, you could see him coming from miles away what with that lighthouse beacon flashing like the light on the nose of a steam locomotive coming at you.
December 24, 2025
December 24, 2025
I’m tired of the suburbs
of ugly concrete views.
I’m exhausted by windows
that look on parking lots
and buildings dressed in drab gray
December 24, 2025
My parents recognized a presence lingering in the hallway, like when you feel someone staring at you from across a room. That gaze makes you lift your head to turn your body and stop mid drag on a cigarette. Or to part those lips just so, before that bitter sip of Chivas Regal Whisky trickles down.
December 24, 2025
Your beauty’s in the flowers
Or in a drop of rain,
The mem’ries that we had
Forever will remain.
December 24, 2025
Gentle music fills our ears—
As carolers sing their songs of cheer
We bid them enter to warm up
With cakes and hot tea in a cup.
December 23, 2025
On the First Day of Christmas, my stomach asked of me: a baked ham inside a turkey…
December 23, 2025
A small package arrived from Dad in late fall — having journeyed thousands of miles to my doorstep — inside which lay the little ornament.