“Ich war ein schwarzer Leichnam unter Lebenden” “I was a corpse among the living” I was mesmerized in the balcony as my eyes followed the suspended Sputnik chandeliers’ dreamlike ascent toward the ceiling, passing right in front of my face as their lamps gradually extinguished and the house settled in anxious darkness. I had a …
After more than fifty years, I returned to Anchorage for the Alaska leg of my Hardship Alaska book tour. Special thanks go to Dawnell Smith and Vered Mares at Writer’s Block Bookstore & Café for hosting me and creating a wonderful space for book lovers and writers of all ages.
Pure and unexpected joy filled my heart during the Hardship Alaska book talk and World Café conversation at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Anchorage on June 6, 2023. I even reunited with four folks who knew me when I lived in a closet in the church’s basement fifty-plus years ago. Longtime friend and musician Mary …
Return to Alaska 2: St. Mary’s Book Talk & World Café Read More »
I recently went back to Alaska—the first time in over fifty years. I returned as part of my Hardship Alaska book tour. The book chronicles my life as a Vietnam War-era conscientious objector as I set off on two years of exile, service, soul-searching, and self-discovery in Alaska’s rugged, unforgettable beauty. The trip north was also …
The city’s black steel and concrete-gray buildings sparkled in the rain, their dark hues vibrant; even the dirt and trash-filled gutters glistened as if wrapped in a high-gloss clear coating. Nearly blinded by this dazzling display, I thought I heard an angel speak, her voice cutting through the light. I couldn’t make her out as …
Every morning, weather permitting, I drive the six miles from my house in Trenton to Washington Crossing State Park and walk the paved drives that cut through the historic site connecting picnic groves, parking lots, a nature center and an outdoor amphitheater. There’s also a small museum with Revolutionary War artifacts which are housed in …
Under a Bali Moon Among treetops under a Bali moon moist in the heat after dusk, I’d sat in this spot the year before, came back with a friend in tow. I waited while she lifted her spoon in anticipation. “Luscious.” She licked the caramelized crust, spoon dipping deep scooping up what lurked below. Its …
Untuned You sit unused under the archway between here and there next to the couch, also black. Don’t know why I avoid you so, I love you so and when we’re together we’re harmoniously transformed. Yet, something’s off. It must be the river, its dampness lingers within you sliding along the skin of your tendons, …
“The trouble with a secret life is that it is very frequently a secret from the person who lives it and not at all a secret for the people he encounters.” —James Baldwin, Another Country That’s how James Baldwin describes the fallacy of believing he is living a secret life and how it’s only a …
