An Imaginative Life with MS
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Well, my little jaunt to Santa Fe did not fix my hearing. But it was a cure for my existential ailments, and that’s all that I asked for. It was medicinal just being on the train, although I will say that the trip back–because the train is always late and must go full throttle to … Continue reading Medicine, if not a Cure
I stare at the two Amtrak tickets I’ve just booked. Or someone has just booked using my hands. A week after my birthday, I’ll be back on the Southwest Chief, bound for Lamy, New Mexico, and on to Santa Fe. I’ll be taking my mom, who’s never crossed this country by train before (this might … Continue reading The Fairy prescribes
When I was growing up,I wished for a twinlike my uncle for my aunt—appreciably differentyet inconceivable as onewithout the other. Then I saw the fairieswith kaiju at their beck and call.What magic in their close harmony!To never be aloneseemed enthrallinguntil the terror set in. Now the ideal seems to besimple companionshipat a distance easily traversedby … Continue reading The Trouble With Those…
Today, I put in the request to IngramSpark to take the print version of To Tune the Beast out of distribution. Here’s a preview of why: Self-publishing, quite simply, was not made for me, or people like me. I congratulate myself on at least having got the book into print at all, given the technical … Continue reading To Shelve The Beast
In Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, the character Mirabel apologizes for taking Zachary Ezra Rawlins out in winter weather that she describes as “poetry” because it’s harsh as well as beautiful, and it seems to contain metaphors that demand work from you. Today is a poetry day here, the constant snowfall beautiful but with a … Continue reading Poetry Weather
A piece to celebrate Samhain and Halloween, dedicated to the great esoteric entertainer Jill Tracy, whose albums—including the inspiration for this poem, The Secret Music of Lily Dale—I listen to year-round, but especially in spooky season. 🍂 Her music was what I most wanted to play on the piano, or music like hers, and it’s … Continue reading Clairaudience
The day begins with wings and clawsagainst my kitchen door, a desperate Robin,trapped in the garage overnight. Impossible not to tell storiesabout the lonely hours she spent as I project my confineson the screen of her mind. I let her wear herself outuntil I can open the same doorshe must have wandered through. I make … Continue reading Release
The first week of March, I gave up trying to teach myself to play piano using books. I wasn’t ready to give up on learning, though. Not yet. I started searching for scales on YouTube, thinking if I could just find a decent way to memorize and practice those, I’d have a solid enough foundation … Continue reading Start on the Black Keys: Learning Piano with MS and other Shadows
First, some links to the previous installments of this guide: Part One – Part Two – Part Three – Part Four I was going to write something more creative but I realized a while ago that I never shared the “final” outcome of my SSDI appeal, probably because I knew there was more to come … Continue reading The Messer’s Guide to Social Security Disability, Part Five: Taxes and Where to Get Help with…
An earthy cup of pu-er, brewed in a kettle of cast iron steeped in wood smoke, sipped in the safety of a sun-soaked kitchen at winter’s scrappy end— feels like a message from a very near future where my hands are in the soil: “Spring is a poem we must write new every year.” *** … Continue reading Message from Spring
