Category: When the sun shines inside

Right now, I need to not do anything. Take off my socks. Watch my beer sweat. Pat’s playing video games, he steals a sip. Another. This hot computer on my lap burning through the corduroy. I can never spell that word right, I had to look it up. So many easy phonetic things my mind…

My mom just got off the river last night. A week between red canyons, high water, white waves. This photo looks like a painting to me, the sighing light, the clouds holding thunder, waiting. My mom is headed home to Oklahoma, my Step-Dad going North for another week to ride the Salmon River. I wish…

Tonight a firefly and I became friends. My smell maybe, their peaceful nature? Have you ever noticed how easy they are to catch? They don’t fling and jerk like other insects. They don’t mind being touched, being cupped. He mapped my fingers to no end for 20 minutes while I talked with a friend. Caught…

This morning I dreamed of connecting something not sure what two wires, two bodies, two heads, seats, something. My two best friends in a car with me driving through a parking lot, in front of us a vast green and yellow play ground. Children were playing and screaming, the playground was attached to a school.…

I’m not sure how old my Grandma is here, but I think she looks beautiful and it’s one of my favorite pictures of her. She’s still in Montana in this photo. Still Bernice Newkirk. Will become Bernice Van Steenbergen to give me the “Van” in my name. She’ll fight for the polar bears any day.…

Running my fingers through my hair, a small flake of tomato skin fell into my hand. No juice, no meat. I’m growing roots. Check my stomach for the seeds.

I’m going to be 27 this year. How old do I feel? 22? 12? 59? What matters is warm air. The “P” on the parking garage. The signs that tell us where to go. I’m waiting or not for you. The half empty beer. Thai Thai on the corner. Their fried dough permeates summer. 6:45 pm.…

Happy Verry Merry Van Birthday (his slogan, not mine, although I wish I had come up with it) to my brother who is 30 today. When I asked him what he wanted he mentioned a gift certificate to one place or a gift certificate to Threadless as he said “I want to replace a shirt…

The morning is misting. Too tired to even cry. I carry an umbrella, but it doesn’t seem like I need one. There’s nothing solid hitting the ground. The air, however, is saturated. I can feel it through the cloth, through my clothes. I cross the street in front of a black speeding car. I’m carrying…