I go out into the morning, I try not to tune the feeling too much. If I can make one line that is true, it is enough. Just before I had spent hours trying to be important and what a waste it was. My work looking up in state of permission asking, “Is it good enough…
The parcel of land goes by many names. Hellstrip, planting strip, outlawn, greenway, verge. It is that space between the sidewalk and the street, a sort of no man’s land that might be filled with sod, a tree, or dirt piles and dandelions. The verge in front of our home was largely barren when we…
Wednesday morning. 4:00 a.m. or so. Another worry-filled day approaching. As I continue to rest in my warm, comfortable bed I begin my ritual of praying for my kids, grandkids. When I get to my Parkinson’s list I get hung up thinking about Tom and his wife Jeanie*. I finally get up, let the…
the second bedroom downstairs you can have the second bedroom downstairs move in your boxes and don’t mind how the crows will scream at the glory of another sunrise every damn day just – put away your books and focus on the light come dappled through the trees and above you my soft footsteps,…
The spring is oncoming, and that just remind me all about my old home Vietnam. During the middle of January, we will celebrate Vietnamese traditional holidays. You might not know the name of it so Vietnamese we called: “TET holidays,” which means new year for us. It’s been more than 2 years. I don’t remember…
History prepares me To welcome the Monster at my gate To treat him kindly To not look away No matter how gruesome He appears to me How rudely he barges in Uninvited and yet Not totally unexpected Though I shunned him overwhelmingly After…
MUSIC AND LYRICS Tara Ward PRODUCTION Tara Ward | voice Nathanael Washam | voice Mark Mohrlang | guitars Mauricio Carrillo | engineering and mixing LOCATION Nickerson Street Studios ART Skye Harvey | Self Portrait in Metamorphosis SPECIAL THANKS Lacey Brown LYRICS I was right to wile away the hours in the summertime I do…
They sit cross-legged in the grass. The sun reflects on the dew in the community garden, highlighting Durga’s contagious smile. She sits in a bright green kameez with a dupatta draped around her head, binding her midnight silk hair. Her husband, Phauda, sits beside her, twirling blades of grass. Durga’s laugh lines deepen as she…
1. My living room has two forts and one mattress. The forts are new. The mattress is left over from a sleepover the weekend before this madness hit. I like to keep the downstairs tidy in case we have company. The forts might be with us for awhile. 2. My daughter’s teacher calls. She…
“Home”… Oh, what a sweet word it is! This one word brings all the emotions, memories and love. After all, home is not just a building made of bricks and cement, but it is where everyone lives together in harmony with each other. It is a place to share, care and love. Here people make…
Dripping sand, cement, worn-out painted walls; Cats eat rats, rats eating cockroaches and cockroaches eat everything. Her grandma’s unique cooking, the screeching cry of her brother yelling for his favorite toy. Smoke from the inebriating charcoal, her mom shouting for her to clean up after herself. That is what the 10-year-old Sharon imagines when she…
You stifle a cough, so others won’t starebut can you spare a square? You yell, you scratch, you’re quite a pairbut can you spare a square? Don’t be lured into our lairbut can you spare a square? This moment is heavy, and equally rarebut can you spare a square? They don’t…
A small, square slab decorated with beautiful flowers around it, always grabbed my attention in my early years. It was hung above the entrance door of my home. I always admired the beautiful colors and often asked my grandmother what’s written on it. She used to tell me that it was written “Home Sweet Home”.…
Kindred 