The Case for Planting Lantanas

The last day the temperature rose above 105, the Persian carpet zinnia wilted its last time. It quit. That evening, the wind blew in from the west, and the next day, we barely sweat. The marigold bloomed. Then heat returned. One of my students confessed she’d dropped poetry class three times. This term, she stuck […]

On Getting Older

When did morning become the sad time? It used to be the wake and rise, the fine time. Now, I wake to a hole—it’s not that anything is missing– or maybe it is. It’s that my brain doesn’t fire until I step outside, walk a dozen blocks, let the light into my eyes. I used […]