in my dreams
I look for a key
already in my front right pocket
next to the plane ticket
and a taped picture of you
and I, together in one of those funny
yearbook poses of the ‘70s

a window is always open
to the other side
storms and dinosaurs, seas and ice caps,
happy, shiny people in Eddie Bauer ads
sipping lattes in gleaming white cups,
their eyes peering over designer glasses -
celebrities, elusive, vibrant, and slightly vacant
when you ask them for the time -
as if they’ve seen a ghost, pass the scones, darling,
where was I…

“Anyone who’s not vaccinated and who did not have COVID previously, the Delta variant is so contagious that you’re going to get it. It is just a matter of time. If you have prior immunity you do have some protection, but more and more data are telling us that that protection is not so good against Delta. Remember, you can get the Flu every year. It’s not because your immunity isn’t good. It’s because the Flu changes and Delta is really a new strain that is different than everything we’ve seen. So, I am really concerned that natural immunity, although…

I’m kind of psychic.

I knew we’d never see Simone Biles compete in the Olympics. I knew the USA Women’s Soccer Team would embarrass themselves against Sweden. I knew there’d be another Covid surge in Tokyo, shutting out the general public.

And, I knew something was going on with ZZ Top…

…All because I heard “Legs” (Eliminator) rip-roaring in my head with that grizzly, meaty cut-and-run riff a week ago, out of nowhere, for no apparent reason.

Happens a lot.

I hadn’t heard that iconic song — the one that launched a thousand gnarly, guitar-spangled garage bands — since my…

They don’t tell you how to cope. Not at home, in school, or the schoolyard.

Your parents were too busy getting on your case about superficial life shit to bother with the deep stuff.

You’re left alone to fend for yourself.

I studiously learned to balance my checkbook, get a job, pay my bills, and be a good person. Reading, writing, and rhythm.

Depression? Fuck me.

I just watch everyone around me fall apart, then disappear, some cowering in the basement, getting high.

That is why he left her, she left him with the kids and the ALS. …

It’s not that I have anything against jury duty. Once I get over the hassle of learning a new routine, you know, PREPARATION, I’m good with it…eager even.

The one time I made it to the courtroom for voir dire, the prosecuting attorney rejected me out of hand. (They get two or three freebies apiece.) I’ve no idea why.

Hey, I watched “12 Angry Men.” Read the book. Read lots of them.

I could be a kick-ass career juror. I’m kind of a failed lawyer anyway. If I could do my life over again, I would totally go that route…

In 1988, I took up running with a hope and a prayer. I was 24, an editor at the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, just starting my life, really. Before then, my only brush with exercise was rec youth basketball and softball, some tennis and handball with friends in college, hiking to a waterfall near the Pali Lookout…teenaged shit.

I didn’t know how my body would take to running — three years away from a mild heart murmur diagnosis (which never affected my side hustle). If I could last from one traffic light to another, much less three whole miles.

…

“I spent a lot of time writing new material over the past year, which has been great! I recently went to Nashville where I recorded seven of my new originals and am getting set to release them one at a time as singles.”

I’m listening to one song today. It’s everything I ever needed to hear: understanding, compassion, commiseration, resonance…a healing song that washes over me, the way a loving, doting parent envelopes her child in a loving embrace after skinned knees, hurt feelings, and other boo-boos the world out there tends to inflict on us all.

A lot rides…