Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Marriage, Family, Dogs, and Cat
Heritage
I put a yellow rose in my grandmother’s casket. I asked the funeral director to let me into the room early so I could hide the rose between her arm and the silk folds of the casket lining. Her grave is just a few… Continue Reading “Heritage”
Butter Days
I bought another pound of butter today. I thought we had plenty of butter but I wasn’t sure and, besides, it’s not like you have to wait for the last bit of butter to be used up before buying more. If you do that,… Continue Reading “Butter Days”
A Man, a Train, and an Onion
The efficiency of a train’s dining car can be frightening for the introvert. All the seats are filled at a table, by friends and family or strangers. It’s the way it is. It’s the custom of train dining. No wasted chairs. No being alone… Continue Reading “A Man, a Train, and an Onion”
Waiting in the Waiting Room
In the waiting roommy husband sets down his Thermosopens his blue backpackfull of New York Times magazines He pours coffee in the Thermos cupPulls down his mask to sipSelects the first of a dozenBegins at page one, settles in for the wait I see… Continue Reading “Waiting in the Waiting Room”
On Thanksgiving Eve
When I was eight or nine, my family moved from a little town in western Michigan to Detroit. In Hastings, the town where my mother grew up, we lived in a house my dad built across the school playground from my grandmother’s house. It… Continue Reading “On Thanksgiving Eve”
Ducks
A few weeks ago, this mama duck was swimming solo. Her life on Little Lake Harbor on Lake Superior was sweet, uncomplicated. She paddled, ate, sat in the sun, floated with her friends, watched boats come and go and took care of herself. Then… Continue Reading “Ducks”
Captain Nelson
After the game, his Pulaski soccer teammates refuse to shake hands with the opposing team. Infuriated by what they see as the ref’s racist calls, his tolerance of violence from the suburban team and his overreaction to their simply defending themselves, the Pulaski team,… Continue Reading “Captain Nelson”
When We Visited Our Rich Uncle
My Uncle Don’s house was on a river in Indiana. It was a three-story colonial with a row of thick white pillars running the entire front of the house. Surrounding were acres of lawn and carefully sculpted bushes and flowering trees. It was astonishing,… Continue Reading “When We Visited Our Rich Uncle”
Elegy
Stand with 10,000 ghosts Hear their last words Hurrying to the river Running into the trees Shedding this life for new Drop your envy and yearning on the ground Nestle your love in the rocks’ mortar Be part of the wall that stays behind… Continue Reading “Elegy”
Excavation
I found this little buckeroo stuck under my desk He hasn’t had a bath yetThere are probably other things hiding thereThings we quit looking for as soon as they were lost You think you will, but you don’t remember all the thingsLike this unbathed… Continue Reading “Excavation”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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