I have to remember to notice.

Life, the Universe, and Everything
By David Mahaffey

I don’t need to cut myself slack. All I have is slack.

Can I pray?
By Alaina Kleinbeck

All of our Alleluias will be wrapped up tightly in their liturgical tomb, wrapped in burial cloth. But for me, I feel like I am burying a shriveled corpse.

For those wanting to learn more about the woes of factory farming and agribusiness, Berry’s clear analysis of our agricultural system and subsequent offer of local alternatives make this collection essential reading.

A Story Like Mine
By Eileen S.

At this point, I don’t remember much at all about the writing or even the particulars of the plot, but I remember that I felt connected.  I felt validated, represented, sane.

Whalesong
By nightsbrightdays

The book that will change my life is the one I am writing now.

42 Reasons Why
By David Mahaffey

Maybe it’s because all the larger social groups shun us when we’re young, but we seem to reflexively build our own little worlds that keep us safe and, incidentally, keep out those who’ve spurned us.

Psychohistorian For Hire
By Karma’s Fool

Everything else was just the prologue.

The bookworm wriggleth
By John Post

A tribute to books unread.

The clock is the cruelest mistress of all. Sorry dominatrices of the world!

speed
By notgnirrupannig

once, back when I lived on High Street in Eugene, Oregon, one of my roommates was a girl whose boyfriend was rumored to be a speed dealer.

How Long It Took to Fall
By Eileen S.

in the space
three inches between
cheek and floor,
the split-second stretched into minutes

How to Go from 0 to $300 Champagne in Under 10 Minutes: A Primer
By nightsbrightdays

I made promises under dire threats, with the elixir of bubbles and sin still heavy on my tongue, to be nice to my sister in this entry.

Grist
By David Mahaffey

Mr. Jenkins hurtled with all possible speed toward a mostly nondescript but increasingly insufferable little blue dot tucked away in a forgotten corner of the cosmos and wondered, not for the first time, why the one immutable Law of the Universe had been written the way that it had.

When I made it to my new home, I felt the twinge of lack, the kind of aching hunger that comes when you walk into a home where supper simmers on the stove.

I’m hungry.
By Katie DeConto

My intuition and I are such good friends that I will sometimes follow it off of a cliff like a lemming.

Monster
By nightsbrightdays

It began with a mouse.

Borrowing Umbrellas
By David Mahaffey

It is a trait common among my people — and I certainly share it — that no matter how much good we do, it never feels as though we’ve done enough.

Hunger is a social condition
By John Post

how Paris was in the early days when Mr. Hemingway was very poor and very happy and handling himself very carefully because he knew there were going to be some rough contests, not only with Mr. Turgenev and Mr. Stendhal but also with life, “the greatest left-hooker so far…”

The Maw
by Karma’s Fool

Our needs define us, and I really need a better information input system.

Interrupting Chaos
by Alaina Kleinbeck

Why fasting?

It sucks, deal.

What We Breathe Out
By Eileen S.

Nine years ago in January, I inhaled sharply—a breath the shape of not again.

Good Intentions
By David Mahaffey

I am no fan of promises, wary as I am of breaking the big ones

The disconnect(ed) dots
By John Post

In a blatant violation of the word count, I’m putting-it-all-out-there in its confusing and labyrinthine best, resolving never to worry again that things are confusing or labyrinthine.

Another World is Possible
By Eileen S.

When Wake County Schools ended its socioeconomic diversity policy in 2010, I had trouble joining my fellow liberal colleagues in outrage.

It really is a wonderful life.
By Katie DeConto

Why, then, am I still happy?

All Insane Together Now
By nightsbrightdays

It’s easier to get your heart broken when there are tons of people around getting their hearts broken at the same time…

The Web of Us
By David Mahaffey

In 1996 I received in the mail two cassette tapes from a man I’d never met.

Closeted
By Alaina Kleinbeck

This place is a shared space, a community center where everyone is hoveled into tiny closests, hiding behind the old smelly and abandoned coats.

My dad’s 60th birthday is this Saturday.

I can’t
By A Wandering Dreamer

I abstain.

Thoughts on Authority
By James Curran

Life is best lived under authority…maybe…

Standoffs and Standing Back
By Eileen S.

 I have often enough been in an adult-kid standoff with a fourteen year-old boy twice my size to know that I can’t really make anybody do anything.

Little Acts
By Karma’s Fool

Little acts are all we have in the face on monumental stupidity.

Observations stolen and otherwise upon the viewing of cetaceous astronauts.

Crawling Along the Roadmap to Gravitas (in Art Class)
by A Wandering Dreamer

Some people are like splinters.

The Universe Can Barely Contain Itself
by Eileen S.

I confess:  I am an indiscriminate thief!

Welcome Back
by nightsbrightdays

For my friend Katie.

If you’re asked whether you’d rather be a river or an ocean, do not answer.

Majesty
By Alaina Kleinbeck

In the midst of my chaos, majesty abounds. These are a few reminders.

The Man in the Rain
By A Wandering Dreamer (formerly The Rebel I)

To remind us that we could all be that man in the rain.

Addiction
By Karma’s Fool

My bad habit was a continual source of friction with my father.

On the Occasion of a Summer Storm
By Eileen S.

The atmosphere churns,
then bursts:
a summer storm.

In Praise of Tears
By Alisha Agemy

Tears, like showers, are good for the soul.

Deep Thoughts
By Katie DeConto

Water is kind of like tofu.

Reflections
By nightsbrightdays

I am a baby, and I am bathed in the crab pot on the sun-drenched deck of my family’s beach house in Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

An identity crisis, large or small, can come at the strangest times, and they very rarely offer up any warning. Not so much as a “Hey, by the way, you’re going to have an identity crisis on your way home from the metro today.”

Containing Multitudes, Part 3
By David Mahaffey

It turns out that the people who read my blog don’t like it when I say that I don’t write.

Fake Identity / Theft Protection
By A Will in Cognition

I wanted to bring all the laughing to an abrupt end and make them realize that pieces of my mother were slipping away right in front of me.

Juggling Still
By notgnirrupannig

My life seems made of wondering, and perhaps more follow through on my questions than is good for a stable life.

A lot of religion goes nowhere.
By James Curran

I want to know God.

What Gets Lost and Found
By Eileen S.

I don’t know if there is a god, if there are souls, or if we’re all just spinning quarks in space.

Mean Streets of Jeuno
by Karma’s Fool

Every day I hear the cries, everyday someone wants me to be something else

Please don’t have such high expectations for me.

yet again
By Katie DeConto

And now I have no job.

honoring beginnings
By megan e b jones

Thomas Merton once said
“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power…”

Contingencies
By The Rebel I

Studying the great mystery of the universe (love) requires careful planning and the right pair of spectacles.

Advice for a Traveler
By Eileen S.

Do not slip him the answers in class,
or give him advice about love
except for this

Going Retro
By Karma’s Fool

Seriously. Bulbasaur.

In 2005, I was a first-year teacher.

A Very Bad Idea
By nightsbrightdays

I did not look at the scenery. I did not admire the red rock and breathtaking vista. I did not commune with nature. I was too busy trying not to die.

that
By megan e b jones

I am thinking about the colors yellow and purple, mostly yellow. And the balancing that happens when I make a picture.

Midnight Desolation
By David Mahaffey

Driving through the silent black, speeding around blind curves, climbing higher and seeking midnight desolation, I became acquainted with an exhilarating new urge…

Climbing
By Alaina Kleinbeck

I put on the gloves,
grabbed onto the wire,
and put my head down.

Revelatory Gravity
By Karma’s Fool

Despite my catlike reflexes, recent events conspire to push me off the edge.

Falling in Love
By James Curran

We are in Love. But we didn’t fall there.

Falling Star
By A Will in Cognition

If there were a high school Who’s Who award for Least Likely to Cause A Scene, Jaime would want to win hands down (no pun intended).

Learn to Fall
By Alisha Agemy

A Poem. Enjoy.

I’m stepping in love with you.
By Katie DeConto

 I suppose if I chopped off my leg, that would be permanent and difficult to ignore, like a marriage.