Fatherhood

My Head Hurts

His hands are clutched in his hair, fingers clawing for pain they can’t grasp. He twirls them at the back of his head when he’s tired, but now they’re frantic and futile, at a loss for something, anything, to comfort. He curls next to me under the covers and starts to cry, his head cradled […]

The Ugly Bug Ball

Ian took tap and ballet lessons from a friend this summer. He wouldn’t let us watch the rehearsals, but had no qualms about performing in front of a gymnasium full of over-stimulated parents. The title of the song is meant to be ironic. I dare anyone to disagree.

Metaphors Be with You

From The Memory of Old Jack, by Wendell Berry: ‘…When they stop the children are instantly scrambling over the tailgate. Hannah gets out. “Listen! I want you both to mind now, and be good.” “We will,” Margaret says. “Mattie, did you hear me?” “Yes.” Her warnings to Mattie always leave her with the impression that […]

A to C

Grandma Georgina had foolishly taken four Wonka-Vite pills, which—at the rate of one year per second—made her eighty years younger. Unfortunately she was seventy-eight at the time. As Charlie worryingly did the math, Willy Wonka assured the boy that he’s developed a cure for such an eventuality: Vita-Wonk. Mr. Wonka explained that, to counter the […]