Looking up and looking out one sunny Cincinnati day A waitress, taking in the air outside, looks up from the Cincinnati street. Returns inside. Tells the waiter with the squirrelly pony tail, ‘A flock of geese just went by! ‘In a vee,’ she says. …

Fifteen Woodland Thoughts on an Appalachian Eve — 1. Here in the quiet provinces, Wars pass via headlines, worrying us Solid citizens even from this distance with their loud report. We in the quiet country have the luxury of Worry, second cousin to fear. …

What happened one day beside the ohi-yo, and the day after that I had to get out of town. Get lost, evade the race of human beings. Seek out geese and turtles, beavers and blue herons. Gunned the car 50 miles per hour, 70, 80. Slowed to make the left…

He lifted an entire generation of writers shunned by traditional publishing You form odd connections as a feature writer for three decades, as I was with the Charleston Gazette and Gazette-Mail in West Virginia. I interviewed a lot of people in that time. …

When someone who saw you through changes can’t be reached 1. Where have you gone, Stephen? Now, this night I need you. And just you, the gravitas of your bulldog self. Your ancient belief in me. Rather, a belief that dates to 1977 or thereabouts. Ancient enough for we beings allotted no…

A question on a sleepless night: How many thunderstorms old am I? 1. Awake, abed, in a shadowblack room. Eyes closed. Then, my field of vision goes white, the color of a stick of chalk. Am I enlightened, at last? Or dying, witnessing√∫∫∫ the near-death glow of an itinerant god? No. Eyes…

What is the melancholy fascination of a warehouse frozen in time? What is it about static industrial spaces that make them so compelling to the inquiring eye? …

A left turn down a country lane puts me in their secret midst 1. Let’s talk hay bales. I have, perhaps like you, been spying hay bales most all my life. At least a half-century of hay bales or more, as it likely took a half decade of initial breath to notice, and…

‘Republicans who acquit Trump convict themselves’ ~ Windsor Mann Dear United States Sen. Shelley Moore Capito: Greetings. I am a long-time constituent of yours for your entire Senate service from West Virginia. I am writing this open letter about how you choose to vote in the second impeachment trial of…