She did not go gentle into that good night, oh no. A windstorm took her head off and her body soon followed. When she fell this 700-yr-old grandmother fir shook the ground, swiping the power lines and taking the island down with her. We were 30 hrs without power, the silenced grid a soft blanket. …
Author: carmen
The perfume of fear
A woman in a red bikini drifts toward the sandbar on a grey inflatable dinghy. The lagoon at low tide a playland of clam-diggers, happy dogs, and children with float toys. Bikini lady is shrieking at the top of her lungs: noooooo!!! I’m SCARED! help me help me help me! Laughter mixed with shrill mock-terror. …
Ann Randolph and the Bitch
Ann Randolph is a storyteller/performer from LA. She’s got the courage to get on stage and not be pretty, which makes me want to fall down and kiss her feet—I am so sick of watching women on stage in pretty dresses crooning pretty songs with pretty guitar chords, trying desperately to be sweet and inoffensive. …
How serious is serious?
So I just got back from this wonderful road trip with my, uh, guyfriend. To visit his mom. In California. I say this, and people give me this peculiar piercing look. Then they ask me, is it serious? And I am flummoxed. I mean, what is serious? Liver cancer is serious. Babies are serious. Anything …
Living the semi-wired life
Unwiredness is one of the luxuries of life in my green schoolbus on the bluff. No wifi, no smart phone, no wires. I have a battery-operated radio but the reception is crap. When I want to hook up I carry my computer down the cliff trail and along the ocean boardwalk to the farmhouse. It …