A small thing, an unconventional view or a dry-as-bone chainlink fence might be just as much an aesthetic encounter with beauty as the theatrical sunset, a tea-rose in all its glory, or a fetching face.
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VIDEO/NOTEBOOK: Byways, Highways & One Amazing Ceiling
Take a musical sojourn along along West Virginia's byways, highways and roads less traveled, during the months of May/June 2022. Plus. one to-die-for ceiling in the state's capital city.
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‘What Does the Past Look Like?’
A more Catholic grade school name you could / not conjure — Our Lady of the Rosary. Where, on a / bright Saturday afternoon, I'm surprised to find / an orange traffic cone propping open a first-floor / door. And so, as one will do when invited by the / cosmos to stroll the hallways where you once / walked a half-century gone, I walk in.
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NATUREGRAM: Two minutes of nothing but pines, plus some calming music
We can't share with you the sweet aroma of a stand of pine trees in Putnam County, West Virginia. But we can share with you the experience of standing among them. A new WestVirginiiaVille shelter-in-nature short video.
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PORCH POEMS: ‘Ms. Nature & Mr. Death’
So, my day, which when fortunate,/begins with coffee, cat, and dawn,/shifts at some point, to the deck, for some sitting beneath the same old sky,/only this time, eyes closed./Climbed up on the shore, out of thetumultuous stream of thought./I’ve yet to grasp the meaning/of your collaboration, Ms. Nature,/with your ally, Mr. Death.
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Pandemic Memorial Video Project: may7.2020
A couple of weeks ago, they began appearing. Brief, heart-wounded, heartfelt memoriams on Twitter. They note the passing of mothers, fathers, grandparents, kids. I began to screen capture some of them. I wasn't sure why.
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3PHOTOS: Peace & Geese & Hillbilly Hotdogs
I have settled on the title of my collection of essays about weird and wonderful sights in West Virginia: 'Please Don't Write on Hotdog.' Here's why.
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OP-ED LIMERICKS: “Folly”; “Canary, Meet Coal Mine”; & “Worthless Borders”
What do you get when you mix Donald Trump with a Limerick Master—and a little bit of animation?You get Molotov Limericks. Here are the latest 3 in an ongoing collaboration.
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IN THE TIME of CORONA: Who Gets My Beloved Guitars
Dear Family: I come to you on a matter of some urgency. That is to say, the disbursement of my three beloved guitars, should 'The Rona' get me. This is who should become the adoptive parents of Michele, Gilda, and Blue ...
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3PHOTOS|NO.1: Images Outside the Pandemic Box
I've wanted to start a simple series here at TheStoryIsTheThing, called "3Photos." The aim is to lay off the sprawling essays, the tangentialism, and attempts to be wise, but which may just be a bad case of P.A.W.S. (Pseudointellectualism At Work Syndrome).
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HAVANAGRAMS: It’s ‘Complicado’
What do you get when you drop into Havana, Cuba for two days and start turning around to snap photographs in every direction? You get complications.
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Nature’s Not Sheltering in Place
t looks like the violets have returned from wherever violets over-winter. They are small, but distinctive. Kind of like the Pekinese of the front yard. Meanwhile, out on the deck the cardinals are just as prevalent as the violets. Flitting about like there's no tomorrow. Maybe for us. Not for them, it looks like.
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10 Ways of Looking at West Virginia
With so many of us house-bound, my restless spirits may have been grunting about for some space and spaciousness. Here are 10 views from all around West Virginia for a little relief from cabin fever quarantine.
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Up, Up and Away: NewYorkCityNotebook 2
I am standing on Times Square. Just arrived from out of the ground, like some gopher. Probably like most everyone else who is not a jaded New Yorker, my sense organs are in a state of stasis. Of overwhelm. Of a weird mixture of delight and alarm.
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Manhattan Black-and-White: NewYorkCityNotebook No. 1
Here are some black-and-white love letters from falling back in love with New York City, after a long time away and lifetimes ago, while still trying to say hello to David Byrne in person.
