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Pennies From Grandma

I’ve been passing pennies on the sidewalk. There seem to be a lot, as if I’m not the only one who doesn’t bother anymore to lean down and pick them up. After all, what good’s a penny anymore? It’s enough to buy a memory. Every time I see one I think of my Grandma Bralley.

Life And Death

A cold rain beat on the canopy over the grave site. John pulled down the brim of the walking hat she’d gotten him on their ramblings through Ireland. Just before he stepped under the canopy, he glanced up at the sky and recalled when his father had died.

Regrets

A book from childhood, a rainbow, a Grateful Dead show

The Love Story

We swore to do it till death do us part and neither of us crossed our fingers. That, in itself, was rather a miracle. We were hardly speaking at the time. “I will” was a long conversation.

Relieving Ramona

I like Ramona. I want to win the lottery, pay her brother back for the car, bounce her and the baby out of the attic apartment.

Now And Then

I can’t figure out why Adam and Eve stood for it. If they had enough gumption to question the menu, you’d think they would have said, “Now, just a minute, God. Cool down. Let’s not overreact.”

Three Poems

L’chayam

You want I should tell you about Abie — he should rest in peace. Sixty years I know him. . . . A long time. . . . The things I could tell you. You know the Freiheit? No? Of course not. By you it means nothing.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Inside The Modern Hospital

Every little odd ache, cramp, tension; each sore throat, swollen gland, headache; a sudden pain when you reach for something on a shelf, a morning lethargy, an unexpected reluctance: all these whisper cancer.

Tully

Now in the long evenings after dinner she often found herself standing before the bathroom mirror, trying hard to glimpse some of the prettiness her husband had always championed.