The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 8 min @ Hub Coffeehouse It was a bad version of a Monty Python skit. Shit kept going wrong and Cam kept insisting he was fine. He was turning the corner, not to worry. It was a long-ass corner, a never-ending bend. But there was an end, and it was sooner rather than later. Cam refused to talk about the end, every time Sera pushed the issue he Read more
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 8 min @ Mercury Espresso “Savour your moments.” His whisper is hot in her ear. The mercury sits at thirty three celsius. She’s no good with numbers but she knows it’s ‘hella hot’. She’s locked in his gaze but her focus is tracking the path his finger is tracing from her clavicle to her sternum. He is following the slow descent of a solitary bead of sweat. Years Read more
Can I have another? It’s a holiday week – it begins with Canada’s birthday and the middle is all about American independence. I’m up in bucolic Land o’ Lakes territory at a friend’s cottage, escaping the relentless but well meaning condolences. I’m grateful for every single one, but each one is hitched to it’s own trailer of grief, and the weight is mighty. I am seeking the weightless silence of solitude in nature. It seems Read more
She’d sworn, no gun play ever. She made the promise the minute the technician deciphered the ultrasound image. Betts knew she had zero jurisdiction in the playground or the neighbors’ backyard but she had absolute powers at 52 Meadowbrook. It was a dictatorship- no guns, toys or otherwise. She reminded Liam every day how things could be, so one should be thankful for how they are. She hoped that the power of suggestion and a Read more
Because I was delivering my dad’s eulogy… Barrington Wintrose Huie. Quite a name for quite a man. But to most he was simply Barry. Mr. Huie to a few. And ”Dad” to two. No man is just one thing, and my father was no different. He was a provider, a protector, a playmate, a disciplinarian,… and my first crush. Yes, I was daddy’s little girl. But as I grew, so did his definition. He was Read more
Memory of a Face I Once Saw from My World by Bari Huie 8 min in Markham, ON She felt his eyes on her, but she kept hers lowered. Aimee didn’t want to break the connection, she knew if she looked up he’d disappear behind the stack of books at the counter. The last time he spoke to her was over a year ago. He hadn’t forgiven her yet. He probably never would. She circled the stack of Read more
A psychic goodbye by B.H. Whisper/ Quietly/ My name/ Before you go. The night is long. Night passes through the day/ To night once more Happiness to sadness/ Nothing is ever as before. A wisp of change/ Or twitch of Fate’s /Shriveled hand/ Don’t shed a tear nor try to understand. Reach out and Up Grasp the Cup Take your sup.
The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud 8 min @ Wychwood Public Library It took Hannah longer than she’d anticipated to navigate the purchase of a one-way ticket. The French don’t say ‘one way’, they say ‘unique sense’. They surely were a peculiar lot, but she liked that ‘ticket window’ had it’s own word – ‘guichet’ not ‘fenetre de billets’. She liked that using the right words made meaning unmistakably clear. She squeezed the telegram tightly. The Read more