October 28, 2020

Poem: How I Saw What the Gentleman Saw

photo illustration by S. King


Light reflecting off the yellow walls of the hospital room

Gives the scene a warm, nostalgic air it doesn't deserve.

On the bed, a boy cries and screams.

His limbs are spindly, his skin pale, his head overlarge,

Like a six-year-old foetus.

A white-capped nurse holds him down as he flails.

Doctors in white coats wait in the background,

Prepared to fix what's broken.

The boy's mother stands in the doorway

In a blue gingham housedress and brown cardigan.

Her hair is set in curls,

Her face in lines of perpetual worry.

She speaks to the gentleman in the hall,

A friend who has stopped by because.

"It happened again," she says

With perfunctory weariness.

The boy wails, the nurse shushes, the mother shrugs.

"But don't worry about us.

"We'll be all right."

March 21, 2020

Poem: My Children Will Always Be Strangers

digital illustration by S. King, based on a photo by Rene Bernal

My children will always be strangers.
The defining events of their lives,
The bright flags on their timelines;
I saw these as a jaded adult
With decades of perspective
To temper my understanding.
I cannot fathom the imprint
These days leave on young minds.
Whatever shaped me long ago,
The circumstances of my youth,
Are gone or changed forever.
When, someday, I am asked
To answer for the choices made today,
I doubt any reasons will suffice
To those who still remember all
With the stark intensity of childhood.
Each generation has to ask forgiveness
From all the ones who follow.

December 3, 2019

Salted Pecans Recipe

This is my mother-in-law's recipe for salted pecans. I'm posting it here because, well, why not?
It's very simple, and I suppose you could use whatever nut you have in your neck of the woods instead of pecans.

Salted Pecans
Photo by futurestreet


  • One pound pecan halves
  • One stick ( 1/2 cup ) Land O Lakes salted butter
  • Small amount of salt
  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Cut up butter and put it on a cookie pan (approximately 12x16). Melt the butter in the oven while it is preheating.  Stir nuts in pan until completely covered in butter. Lightly salt.  Cut off oven and put nuts in and leave until the oven is completely cooled.  More salt can be added when the nuts are taken out.  If the nuts are too salty or have too much butter, shake them in a paper bag to remove the excess.