Escaping Vanity

         I stood there watching her hold his hand for the last time. Even though I’d heard stories, there was never a moment he seemed dangerous. One June afternoon we met in his kitchen. Seated quietly behind the kitchen table, soon he would be out running heavy equipment. Yes, he’d been eligible for social security for a while now, and he never stopped working.           Despite being older and sometimes lonely, he made the most of his sense of adventure. He’d take the horse trailer for a weekend getaway. Perhaps drink from a mason jar and howl at the moon. A man never confused about his age, just confusing you with the wrinkled  and bruised skin.           Folks fail to see the identity issues many of us have. A person we all acknowledge is still experiencing loneliness. They make choices to take on greater risks in the hopes of duplicating old feelings. The sort ...

I was on the phone with Ticketmaster. Fresh out of high school with no credit card and the opportunity of a lifetime. See, it was Friday, a week after tickets went on sale. My friend Derrick already had seats for all of us to WWF Summerslam. If I drove, he would trade me a seat without any further payment. Then a curious notion came to me, call the box office and see if they had better seats than him.  The lady gave the option of a single front-row ringside seat. The price was $300 at Raleigh’s RBC Center. I was two hours away and must purchase this immediately! Later I would be recognized as the guy sitting between the announcers. There’s a bunch of instances where I am on camera during the pay-per-view event. A nice bonus for a guy who wanted to feel the energy of the performance. I was asked who I killed for the seat, that’s how awesome it was.  My stepmother made this possible. She’d been married into the family for a couple years and was the only person home. My fat...

Like a possum crossing in the dead of night Birds building nests in our shrubbery Hummingbirds unable to resist our feeders When a man uses a wooden duck call Deer enjoying corn laid in a clearing A grizzly roaming toward a heavy metal trap Sometimes we use nature against itself... A worm reeled on a hook to catch a fish Sharks chasing a bloody mix of carved bait Bonsai trees growing and clinging to cliffs Weeds pushing up through man-made sidewalks Our vegetation caste system tells us what to keep Deep in the ocean with breath in a tank Deprived of oxygen dropping from the sky Rich in fuel walking our native lands... -------------------------------------------- The same forces of nature that bring our blizzards bring the rain. Snows that keep us immobile in a different state from the rain, watering the forestation. Do the trees know that Mother Nature also brings the wind that uproot them? Wildflowers rising up from soil that may one day become dry. Powe...