Leaving room for errors always seems wise

Til they move in and start to take advantage

Too many roommates is an undercover guise

For a life that has been mismanaged...

“How many times do I have to tell her…”

Whenever my sister visits, I end up muttering to myself exasperated. The tiniest room in the house is the largest battleground. I don’t know why she insists on her antics but visiting the bathroom shouldn’t be as frustrating as she makes it.

The room is small. While sitting on the toilet, a person can reach across the room in any direction and press th...

When I was young, I sat accused

Of stealing chocolate chip cookies

Stern faced parents were not amused

At my attempts to lie like a rookie

At five years old, I shook my head no

Someone else must have eaten the treats

They said if I fibbed, my nose would grow

I refused to confess in defeat

They looked at me like a seasoned sleuth

Got punished since a lie was embraced

They knew I hadn’t spoken th...

As I stepped onto the bus after the last day of school, several thoughts and emotions swirled within. I started my high school career kicking and screaming, disconnected from the promise a good education threatened to unleash. Four years later, I didn’t want for it to end.

After moving to four school districts in three different states, all before the sixth grade, each of the placement and IQ t...

Knuckles of gnarled tree trunks exhibited a lifetime spent in a swamp covered valley forgotten by civilization. Each wooded knot told a story that only the trees had observed. The Spanish moss that draped from each outstretched limb camouflaged the building it surrounded.

Constructed from redwood logs harvested from a neighboring tract of land, the Tavern On The Water sat nestled under a cano...

Exhausted from a day of emotional upheaval, I curl into a fetal position and drift off to sleep. Innocent thoughts of joy fill me. I dream about spending my future with the only woman I’ve ever loved and hope she feels the same way about me.

Without warning, a blood curdling moan slices through the air with exacting precision. It jolts me awake and provokes a response. I am scared and alone....

“Don’t step any closer! I’ll jump!”

When the day started, standing on the ledge of a twenty one story building wasn’t something I planned to do. It was a long way down with no chance of survival. One small move and my life would be reduced to a puddled splotch of ruptured organs.

With a future predetermined, there was nothing that could have been done to change the chain of events that brough...

Filled with nervous energy, fingernails bitten uneven, I try remaining patient while driving to pick her up. It is our first date.

After months of provocative flirtations, a potential roll in the proverbial hay appears possible. Once before, drunkenly cramped into the back of my three cylinder subcompact car, we canoodled for hours. I’ll never understand how we both fit. Maybe it was meant ...

Swallowed by an underground void that gulped everything into its vacant cavity, jagged sections of asphalt roadway disappeared in the blink of an eye. A sinkhole had consumed my truck. It fell without warning into the cavernous unknown at an uneven pace.

The vehicle fully insured, my disappointment in its submergence would have been minimized had I not been driving with my dog when the ground o...

“You know who is looking for you.”

“Who?” I replied, my voice heavy with sarcasm. “The Author?”

Unamused, I stared at my friend. The stern look on my face contradicted the playful tone of the response. I knew who Steve was referring to but hated whenever someone referred to the man in the third person. It was as if his profession had become his pseudonym.

Contrary to how others cowered in...