Outside, the still of crickets. Inside, petals of a cold sore foliate,

It wasn’t long after her mother died my wife asked if her father could live with us. We had an empty apartment upstairs. Dad wouldn’t be much trouble, she said. He was old now and had d...

From my stool in the diner I watc… the old woman with elm tree arms command the big booth in back and roar for a menu, take a half hour to read it

Holiday Parties Millie comes home bawling from another holiday party and Willie asks what’s the problem. Millie says her friends are cheese…

Wally made the long drive home from vacation on Election Day because he wanted to vote. He went for a jog and then to the… and cast his vote for his candidat…

Another day at the zoo and Wally’s new job was to feed the ap… Old Stanley had fed the apes for 40 years and loved the job but told Wally he was retiring.

Married 60 years Fred and Daisy still are very different people. All day long they hide their differences to make

In a yard abandoned this winter when the owner moved grass is growing this spring

Bill hates to go to parties but he loves to go to wakes. One of the advantages of being old, he says, is that there are fewer parties to go to but a lot more wakes. At parties he finds ...

When Fred was a boy, he heard his… talk about Grandpa going to town d… to sell the bounty of his harvest. On his farm he had eggs, butter an… vegetables and meat. He’d buy suga…

When the dogwoods bloom pink and white blossoms create canopies of joy. Donal Mahoney

After the Spring rain a dove on a Dogwood branch preens like a starlet

Time’s a jet plane when you’re young. You go to school get a good job marry someone nice

An hour before dawn the paper is out on the lawn white in the moonlight a trumpet dozing after a long night in a jazz bar