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The most
‘Dad?’ my 8-year-old asked me. ‘Yes.’ ‘What did you like most about being a child?’ He tends to say ‘child’ instead of ‘kid.’ I thought. ‘Well. I guess I enjoyed the beach the most. Point O’ Woods. My...
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Gone Skating
[by Bennett Freeman, age 10, concerning his father. On Mother's Day.] When I went skating I broke my bone So now I’m lying here All alone
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Correction
First, a classmate told my son Teak (8) not to run in the hallway of their elementary school. Then, a teacher did. Teak looked at her. ‘I’m not running. I’m donkey-kicking my butt cheeks.’
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Isosceles triangles
He had silver-gray hair that must have been braided, twisted into a bun under a hunter’s ballcap. Faded brown scene of deer and thicket. A pencil was shoved point first into his nest under the cap on...
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Not so much human
Parents tend to say things about their kids like, ‘She made me so angry, I just wanted to wring her neck!’ Yet when we see them sleeping at night—when we stoop over them in the dark and gaze: their...
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So far…
My first of three weeks in Texas (with Karen’s family) was largely devoted to researching generosity in large cities (online and in texts), and some of the next two will be as well. That is, when we’re...
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Daddy’s not angry
Suicide has visited our family several times. Specifically, I’ve known four people who have decided in their depression to murder themselves. Three of these were family members; one was my father. All...
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Urban Flight [abstract]
My American friends told me that Hong Kong was ‘like New York on steroids.’ Having grown up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, I was skeptical about the Asian city’s intensity or impressiveness. Yet,...
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Byōbu: block the wind
Sunday morning. A light breeze from the east allowed for only a zippered fleece. It was about ten degrees warmer than most late November days should be in New York City. As I reached the corner of...
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Ode to my head
Last night I had a dream in which I could take my head off my body. I could open it up at its “seams” and fix various things. At one point I wanted to turn it over to see what it looked like where it...
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Another gift
Birthday presents for my brother and me were wrapped in old bus and subway advertising posters that my father had stored on his utility shelves. Cutty Sark. A Miró exhibit at MoMA. Time Magazine. That...
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They come for the money
“Ma’am!” the voice came from a bullhorn on the roof of the 7-story building across the street. “Please close your window immediately!” I saw men with rifles. Our living room was on the 6th and top...
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Morning scene #42
“Memphis versus St. Louis…” He waited. “St. Louis,” she answered quietly, looking down at the paper. “New Mexico versus Long Beach State?” “Long Beach State.” He held his pen three inches above the...
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Pattern #69.2—“Curbside Parlor”
The addition of a bench around the tree completed the public space. Had you been walking east on 12th Street between Avenues A and B and passed Northern Spy prior to that time, you might have kept...
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Pattern #124.2—“Bisected Sitting Bracket”
Walking from the 9th Avenue bus to the office, I noticed—I mean noticed—for the first time a block with wonderful “place” qualities and the potential for more. 29th Street between 9th and 8th. On the...
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Curry dip in a jelly jar
“But he doesn’t need deodorant,” my father said. “My love.” Mom sometimes used their term of endearment as punctuation. I was standing next to her. “My love. You don’t have to wash his shirts.” The...
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Neighbor
“I got worried for a minute. Thought you were a bomber. That bag was there and I didn’t know where you had gone.” He was a man I’d guess of about 6’2” with (once) formidable biceps that had softened a...
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Not write
In my desire to make things shiny and new, make them tidy and “branded,” make sure the quotation marks looked more like sans serif fonts and less like Courier, make sure I spoke only of external things...
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3-1-1 on Christmas tree disposal
Alleen should have his face on an IMDb or RottenTomatoes thumbnail photograph. Tall, dark-cocoa skin, severe jawbone, handsome and older, and gentle smile—one that could provoke sympathy from an...
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