Author Archives: 1maniac1989

It was time to take the tree down. More needles had fallen to the ground than remained on the branches. The fires were burning, and the timing was curious. I called my friend: my friend that had escaped through her bedroom window to accompany me to toilet-paper a boy’s house very early on a summerContinue reading “In the Shadows”

One day, she was just gone. Eva was the most striking of all the laying hens, with her nearly iridescent feathers, graceful presence, and animated personality. She was a Lavender Orpington, one of two baby chicks for which I had paid upwards of seventeen dollars each, whereas my original flock of Barred Rocks and EasterContinue reading “Lost”

He’s finally sleeping. I understand why they gave me  one of those spoon/fork combos, but it was nearly impossible to cut the “grilled chicken” that occupied the styrofoam plate alongside an extraordinary pile of bright green broccoli.  They cannot offer knives to mental health patients.  It was a parent tray, though.  I wouldn’t have usedContinue reading “Earthbound”

He’s orange, and he has orange eyes.  He seems to be inhabiting the outskirts of the farm until well after the sun goes down.  One of the little boys named him “Macaroni”.  We don’t see him very often.   If darkness has fallen by the time I bring food to the barn cats, he willContinue reading “It’s Okay If You Stay Here”

I’m getting pretty good at chicken burials. It’s no secret:  I didn’t want him in the first place.  Maybe that’s not really fair to say; the truth is that I wasn’t confident that I would know how to care for him, and I was intimidated by the thought of having a rooster. I have heardContinue reading “After Wendell”

Jenny has always been a little bit edgy.  She’s my chicken.  It seems she is always trying to sit on an egg or two, and she will make an awful noise and even snap at me when I reach under her to check for eggs.  Today, the egg had been cracked, and she was sittingContinue reading “What Lies Beyond”

Inside my days lies unspoken beauty that asks for no description, and at the same time a darkness of unknowing, of where there can be no answer now, and maybe never. The lingering smell of a new coat of blacktop added an offputting layer to the earthy freshness of the morning prairie path before me.Continue reading ” A Good Place to Hide “

It’s a bit different now.  We haven’t lived there in nearly two years. Though not exactly a historical scholar, I have always been drawn to things of the past.  Four or five thrift and vintage stores are now part of our sleepy university city’s downtown.  I found myself alone in the bustle, if even thereContinue reading “Bird Street: Retrospective “

There was nothing magic that happened at the end.  It just trailed off quietly and uneventfully.  I’m not sure what I expected, or if I expected much of anything at all.  Now, though, it’s all done, without fancy sugar-sparkled cupcakes, rainbow-maned ponies with golden hooves, or a ticker-tape parade.  The hopes and wishes have fadedContinue reading “Ponies and Cupcakes: All Grown Up “