That above is a photo of chive flowers from my garden. Pretty aren’t they? I’m offering this micro tale I wrote a while ago. It’s about love because there isn’t much else, and all else fades when love is threatened. Even those of us who don’t lose sight of that truth are constantly reminded of it. Hope you like it…
We invited an interesting new couple over.
Mylo, our nine-month rescue dog, greeted them with unexpected enthusiasm, shouting, “HELLO! I’ve missed you!”
The couple exclaimed, “Sam?!”
Mylo went crazy, shouting, “Yes!”
The man asked, “You got him from PAT Rescue?”
I nodded.
The woman admitted, “We got Sam during Covid. When Covid ended, we had to return to the office to hectic jobs. We couldn’t keep Sam.”
I feigned a headache, compelling them to leave.
“Horrible!” I fumed. “I’m sorry, Mylo.”
Puzzled, Mylo replied, “Why? They loved me once. I won’t stop loving them, just because they wouldn’t keep me.”
--reena | April 2025
The above is an emotionally truthful, fully fantastical tale. I’ve had many dogs. None of them was named Mylo, yet all dogs are Mylo, aren’t they?
There’s much to learn from our eternally wise, four-legged, canine love founts. I don’t want to overstate associated adages for fear of clichè. But I wrote this as I thought about how love will always break our hearts by separation of one sort or another. And while we find it hard to grieve lost loves, forgive betrayals, face separations, the fact is, heartbreak awaits all instances of love—one way or another.
So, should we stop loving then? As Mylo asserts: Nope. Keep loving.
“If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.”
—THE MORE LOVING ONE
by W.H. AudenLove anyway, says this beautiful meditation too, from one of my favorite newsletters.
Adding to the strange ironies of life, one of my short plays (a comedy) has been selected by the Bay Area Drama company, and will be staged in September 11-14th, as part of their "Shorts Circuit" showcase. See circuit B.
If you’re local to the SF Bay Area, I hope you’ll go see it. Tickets here: https://www.bayareadrama.company/circuit-b-tickets
I’m thrilled to report that—
My story, Gorgeous Beauty ‘“Saloon” is out in an e-magazine by the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club this month (Aug-2025).
My story Fragments Unlived will be published this fall, in the San Joaquin Valley Writers anthology called Beginnings & Endings.
Two of my auto/fiction creations—a story and a poem—have been selected for the California Writers Club—SF-Pen’s 2025 anthology Fault Zone: Faultless?—an award winning biennial anthology. More when this is out.
Several of my poems are forthcoming in a 2025 Poetry of Diaspora in Silicon Valley’s Blue Throat Dancers Anthology.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.