—YEAH, I NOTICED THAT

 

…“What more is there than someone who loves you and wants to really know you—besides doing the same yourself, for those you love?” Maggie May Ethridge

 

…It’s hard to quit when you’re ahead. A lot of times it’s also hard to quit when you aren’t.

 

…When you think you’re right all of the time, it means everybody else has to be wrong all of the time, so how does that make sense?

 

…I had a couple of things published in one of my favorite places, Eunoia Review:

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2025/08/24/not-quite-finished/

 

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2025/08/24/that-day-a-relapse/

 

 

---“Doctor, my right arm hurts when I do this. What should I do?”

---“Stop doing that.”

 

…On the train, I watched a young woman work on her makeup for four hours with the intensity of Seurat inventing Pointillism. It was actually kind of fascinating. I hope the person she was meeting appreciated all she’d done for them. 

 

…You can do it if you make it all up, and if no one ever calls you on it, but it’s still untrue.

 

…All I really want to know is—can I trust you?

 

…I might have been talking to you there.

 

…Every single time my son comes through the door, the first thing he does is whistle. Even after 10,000 times of him doing that, it’s still pretty precious each time he does it.

 

…I think my heart might be trying to tell me something I don’t want to hear.

 

--How many people in the entire world have ever said that word, “Splooge,” or even know what that means?

--I’m guessing none. I think you and I made it up.

--Exactly.

 

…Oh God, it felt so good to laugh and laugh this weekend, laughing until I cried.

 

…You’re probably a really good person, but please don’t tell me that I don’t have “a fucking clue” when you don’t even know a single thing about me. Maybe talk to me first before you say or write that. I think we could be friends if you’d just ask what I mean.

 

…That’s what happens when you take your eye off the ball.

 

…I live in the country. How does a little golf ball end up, smack dab, in the middle of my back yard? 

 

…Sometimes you need a back rub, sometimes you need to shake yourself.

 

…A lot of the things I save are meaningless to other people, but they mean something to me.

 

…It might not look like it, but I did a lot of work yesterday.

 

…“No time to grieve, no time to mourn.” Landman

 

--I’m confused.

--Okay, but why are you shocked by that bit of personal information?

 

…“To be called ‘woke’ in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult—it is the Gospel. Woke means awakened by compassion. Guided by truth. Humbled by grace. Committed to justice—not just for some, but for all.” Pope Leo XIV 

 

…Oh, the sweet smell of success. Handle me with care.

 

…I saw a cop car 20 feet from me the other day and I thought—I’m right here, motherfucker.

 

…Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we’re all the same team, because it sure doesn’t feel that way anymore.

 

…“We’ll open eventually.” Eventually? Is that really your answer? Really?

 

…“Okay, leave that alone. Let it sit for a while before you fuck the whole thing up”—that’s something I never say to myself often enough.

 

…It’s not like I want to be sad. But I have eyes. I have ears. They still work.

 

--Should I be there?

--I think you should. You’ll feel guilty otherwise.

--I always feel guilty, whether I’m there or not.

 

…I know you didn’t mean it that way, but that was still a tad cruel and uncalled for.

 

…I think you forgot your gloves.

 

…Sometimes you just have to push Send, even when you think you shouldn’t.

 

…Something smart to tell yourself regularly is—Just let it go.

 

…I think the problem is I have six months’ worth of Friday posts just sitting here.

 

…You know something good’s happening to you when it’s new Discover Weekly and you don’t even care.

 

…All right, are we really going to do this, or not?

 

…The lyrics can read a lot differently without a soundtrack behind them.

 

…Sometimes you just have to push Restart, and that can be awfully scary.

 

…Do you ever get really frustrated when you can’t find the right word? No? I do all of the time.

 

…Try not to take it personally is really difficult to do, especially when you’re a person.

 

…“I have done nothing all summer but wait for myself to be myself again.” Georgia O’Keeffe

 

…The thing is you can’t be joking when you say that. You can’t be kidding at all.

 

…I think it’s very difficult not to use adjectives if you’re a writer, but that might just be me. 

 

…How you hear something changes everything.

 

…I may have said this before but, when you close your “Stand” ring by noon, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

 

…You remind me of just how little I deserve.

 

…Nothing’s perfect, so why should you ever expect it to be that way?

 

…Who watches the finale instead of episode 4, season 4? Oh yeah. 

 

…You could be the most articulate person who ever lived, but there’s still no way in fucking hell you’d convince me that the “guy” in the White House is anything other than the very definition of evil.

 

…It’s still early, so I’m not that bitter yet.

 

...Thank you for paying attention.

 

…I spend a lot of time staring at the lake. And I feel really lucky that I get to do that.

 

…Maybe I’m making too much of everything. Do you think I’m making too much of everything?

 

…I think there might be something wrong about this.

 

…I could write a song about that.

 

…Stevie Nicks, come on, you’re an idol and a legend, but give me a fucking break here with all of your incessant barking. 

 

…Can we stay frozen in time, caught between Hello and Goodbye?

 

…Is the word you’re looking for “apprehension”?

 

…I understand brainwashing, if you have no recourse to stop it. But I really, really, can’t comprehend how any human being with an actual brain could think any of this is okay or even close to normal. What the fucking Hell?

 

…I’m not making it up. These were the first three headlines that came up on Sunday after I typed “news” into my computer:

     --Three dead in horror NYC mass shooting

     --Gunfire erupts during altercation on Swift bus in Mill Creek

     --Police find two dead after Welfare Check in Lake Stevens home

 

…What I really don’t need right now is another reason not to believe in Jesus.

 

…“The world is big and beautiful and colorful and amazing—go see it.” Nancy Stohlman

 

…Do you know what that looks like? Enough. 

 

…When it’s getting really close to the end, that’s when it’s like—Fuck yeah. Let’s do it. Why would we not?

 

…That’s good enough.

 

…If I can make you happy, that makes me happy. So why don’t I do it more often?

 

…“My back may be ruined for the moment, but I'm still a pretty princess.” Jay Halsey

 

…I guess the question is always: How much energy are you willing to expend for that thing you want?

 

…Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it, truly, but at this point, the only one I’m talking to is myself.

 

…“I finally found the love / baby, I’m the one.” Kirsten Clodfelter 

  

…I’m hoping to be out of the wash before sundown. Wish me luck. 

  

…Take care of your heart. It’s really the only thing you’ve got.

 

…“I thought it might be fun to break my own heart today.” Stephanie Clark

 

…If nothing else…

 

…Whoa, Sparky.

 

—IT’S A LITTLE BIT FUNNY

 

Personal History

 

I was trying to reconcile what she said 

with the way she kissed me.

I was nine and all I had—

time and fear—hung on the bedroom 

walls by my Pocahontas clock.

Down the hall, people laughed or 

bumped glass while cigarette smoke 

seeped under my door like genies who 

grant wishes, make magic or balloon animals. 

She tapped six times ta-da ta-da ta-da, 

I remember that because I thought, 

I’m saved this time. Magic is true. 

She said, “Scoot over, Scaredy-cat” 

and breathed sour on me.

 

At dinner, when my wife asks, 

“What‘re you spacing about this time?” 

I’m trying to reconcile what my aunt said 

with how she kissed me, using her tongue, 

a lit cigarette in her hand, the red of the ash, 

crooked shadows bouncing off 

of Pocahantas’s cheek.

 

—FEBRUARY 4^TH THROUGH THE 16^TH OF MAY

  

Good

 

I sometimes think about 

the widow who wrote 

of her late poet husband 

how he felt such gratitude 

simply to be able to write 

and then doubly more so if

he got the chance to share 

his words with others 

how once, only one person 

showed up at the bookstore 

for his reading and yet 

her husband practiced reciting poems 

behind the back shelf sections to himself 

an hour before going on 

and then when he took the podium

he delivered a performance 

as if he was conducting at Carnegie Hall 

or auditioning for one extra day of life 

which in his mind he probably was 

though I’ve never met him 

which is why I think about him 

every time I send a piece out 

in the mail hoping someone,

even a stranger I’ll never meet,

might write back and say 

This is good

 

—I’D BETTER GET MY SHIT TOGETHER

 

 

…When someone asks you to listen, it’s probably already too late, but you should still try.

 

…Make room. I think that’s what we’re meant to do, why we’re here.

 

…You can only spill on yourself so much.

 

…It might be your favorite, but that doesn’t guarantee anyone else is going to like it. 

 

…Help me out—what am I looking at here?

 

…With people before, they left like a falling floor.

 

--Do you even know what today is?

--No. What?

--A good day to take a nap.

 

…I find that I swear a lot more than I used to, and I also find that I enjoy, and am interested in, other people who swear a lot, way more than I’m interested in people who never swear at all.

 

…Here’s a good place to stop—it’s called Yesterday.

 

…I was looking at the moon this morning and it was looking right back at me.

 

…Do I wear hats?

 

…The thing is, you have to trust somebody eventually.

 

…“No Way Out” was a really underrated film. In my head it was.

 

…You’re a much better actor than me.

 

…Me wearing a pink jacket with epaulets? All that would be is, me asking to get the shit kicked out of me. 

 

--I wish the draft was already over.

--But it’s only Friday.

--I know. What do you not understand here?

 

…Careful now, don’t get caught in your dreams.

 

…It can mean whatever you want it to mean. Don’t overthink it, unless you want to, for some reason.

 

…After I’m gone, someone’s going to log onto this computer, type in Don’t Bother Knocking (19), and they’re going to say, “Holy Shit! Look at all this blather. Why is it just sitting here, in a file, that no one will ever see? Maybe we should light a match.” 

 

…Like ants in a box with nowhere to run.

 

…Wow, things looked a lot different then. If only I’d known how much.

 

…Fucking M’s.

 

...The math doesn’t seem to quite work. 

 

…I’m a lot happier than I seem. Trust me.

 

…It’s a gift beyond measure—having a child—but there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that. 

 

…It doesn’t take much to make me restless, unsettled and wondering what I’m doing here.

 

…Sometimes I think—All I have to do here is, show up. How hard can that be? But it can be awfully hard sometimes. 

 

…I’m trying to get steady, and I think you are, too.

 

…(…)

 

…See what I mean?

 

…When you talk about overthinking things, consider line breaks—those will mess with you for days if you let them.

 

…Fuck that guy. I hate him so much. I can’t even articulate how much I hate him.

 

…I knew the day would come, sooner or later, where you’d slip and let go. I just didn’t expect it to be today. 

 

...There are always two sides to a coin.

 

…In the end, doesn’t everyone just want to think that they were a good person?

 

…Don’t crucify me, but I think (and I stand by this) that a foot massage, if it’s well done, is better than any sex you could ever have.  

 

...Sometimes when I’m crying, for no conceivable reason, I think to myself: What the hell are you doing right now? Why is this such a fuss for you when it would never ever be a fuss for any other person on the planet?

 

…If it works, you look like a genius, and if it doesn’t, well you at least tried.

 

…I’m not sure how I still have a belly, but it’s right here, staring up at me now like some sea creature in a B movie no one remembers.

 

…I could see a deer three times a day for the rest of my life and I’d never not be in a state of awe when I see one.

 

…This can’t all just be a convenient accident. There’s no way. That’s impossible.

 

…I was out prayin’ for you, that’s why my friends pray for me.

 

…“Punk used to be all about yelling and making a big noise, but now the resistance is kindness and empathy” David Byrne, The Talking Heads

 

…No mas. Okay, sure. We’ll see how that works out.

 

…What if there was no such thing as Christianity? What then?

 

…I think I’m ready for you now, if you’re ready for me.

 

…I was thinking about taking today off, but then I remembered there were still people who love me.

 

…It doesn’t matter what you think if you don’t show up.

 

…“Who the fuck has time for gestures?” The Bear

 

…I’m a writer, but then no one’s perfect.

 

…If I just keep drinking this coffee, well then maybe…

 

…Say a prayer for me Saturday morning. Say a prayer for me any morning, if you happen to have a spare five seconds. I would feel lucky and happy to have anyone pray for me.

 

…I sure push Save a lot.

 

…Who knew Ed Sullivan would become my third biggest hero, right behind Jesus and Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

 

…I remember vividly when I was having lunch with one of my best friends, and I said, “I think you’d really like ____ K, and I think you’d probably become best friends if you got to know him,” and my best friend said, “I don’t have time for any more friends.” It seemed incredibly crass and ridiculous at the time, but now it seems kind of profound.

 

…Just because no one told you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know. 

 

…People who can make you laugh, like belly-gut laugh to the point you’re in tears, are really precious.

 

…I was probably the only person on the planet missing David Cassidy yesterday, and that saddens me.

…Scares me to death, cause I want this.

 

…When my watch buzzes now, it’s a little like a dog running into an electrical fence.

 

…I can call you, Betty, and Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al…

 

…You know what’s not a good look? America.

 

…People think I’m bitching, but I’m really just paying attention.

 

…I think there’s an app for that.

 

…But there’s not one to keep Stevie Nicks from barking all day.

 

…Something no one’s ever going to say about me—That guy really knew his way around a truck. Or—You’d be hard-pressed to find a man who loved hunting and killing defenseless animals more than him. Or—That guy lived his life worry-free.

 

…If I had better words, I’d use them.

 

…If I wasn’t this sensitive, I wouldn’t be so sensitive.

 

…I found a little golf ball in my yard the other day while I was out picking berries. It made me smile for a long time. There’s only one other person on the entire planet who understands why that was, and that makes me smile, too. 

 

…The things that I don’t know could fill a million fucking houses. 

 

…I think one of the worst things that can happen to you on a train, or a long plane flight—other than dying—is running out of books to read, so I’m packing.

 

…It’s Friday for somebody, somewhere.

 

…Well, tomorrow’s going to be interesting. See You Next…Monday.