poetry — First published by Four Feathers Press. Winner of the Poetry Lottery “You can wait out there or stay in here if you want,” the kind nurse tells me Her beautiful dog kennel eyes make me feel hubcap all over Her uniform is bright petrol Her shoes, ink blot I don’t know how to respond…

poetry for the overwhelmed creative — If only someone outside my head could teach me this lesson If only my thoughts would organize themselves Too many sparkly objects demand my attention Too many “what ifs” fill my mind I’m learning to ignore Not you. but sometimes yes, you Not them. but sometimes yes, them But mostly all the word bubbles floating above me The…

Alice Neel in Cool, Dead Women on a Bench art series First up in my new series of, Cool, Dead Women on a Bench, is figurative American artist, Alice Neel (1900–1984). I’m a huge fan of Alice’s style. Her paintings of people have a feeling that goes way beyond resemblance…

A poem Sly and the Family Stone dancing in my brain, I wanna thank you… for letting me… be myself… again. A quick courtship of hello, I love you, let’s elope. 12 years in, more in than ever How do we do it? We don’t do it as much as be it Together even when we’re not mostly only a room away Doing…

A poem And what about the other tears? Tears of wonderandwow Tears of look at this brand new baby Tears of can you see how tall that tree has grown? Tears of how vast can that ocean be? Tears of have you ever heard a song so beautiful? Tears of being in love melting into a…

The rewrite I had the great pleasure of going to the Vincent Van Gogh Experience here in L.A. and it was a gorgeous, soul-soothing event. In the accompanying app, we were able to type in a letter to Vincent and we were promised that he would write back. This setup…

Remembering the movies and the people I watched them with — What I watched with you. All of you. The yous of my life. I remember the scenes so vividly. All I have to do is press pause again and rewind and it will play for me in vibrant Technicolor and classic black and white. “The Mosquito Coast” as I lay in my hotel bed in Costa Rica desperately trying to avoid a stranger…

Poetry — back to school commercials make me queasy. queasy and uneasy with the thought of summer’s end I am an adult. (I know that.) I don’t have to go to school. (I know that.) I don’t have to stop going on road trips or to the beach. (I know that.) But my stomach has yet to share this information with my…

A must see — Note: I’m referring to the 2021 Apple TV + film CODA, not the Patrick Stewart film from 2020. Which, it looks like, at some point, they changed the title of that one to Life with Music. I don’t even like the word perfect, so I don’t know why I used it in the title. No, I do know why — because it was the best word I could…

Artist Statement When a face emerges i am always delighted caught in a wind storm about to be blown away or swallowed whole

Everything has a story I often see chairs and sofas abandoned outside their former homes here in my hometown of Los Angeles. When I see them there, just sitting there, so sad and alone, I’m struck by how sad it makes me feel. So, I set out on a photo journey around town and I took the photos below. And I listened to them. I really listened. This…

I like the dusk best of all. Each time it arrives, I feel like it sneaks up on me and covers me in the mysterious layer of the day. I surrender instantly, allowing it to hold me fully. We slow dance, the dusk and I, for thirteen minutes and eight…

Do you remember? Remember that one time when you took me sailing? The wind kept howling TURN BACK! But we made believe that we didn’t understand. We acted like we didn’t speak Wind. I was five and when I asked you why I had to wear a life vest, you told me because my life meant everything to you. …

An homage to all the pups. And Julio Iglesias. Please sing to the tune of To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before To all the dogs I’ve loved before, who traveled in and out my door. I’m glad they came along I dedicate this song, to all the…

And bask in the joy of it For as long as I can remember I’ve had conversations with people who seem to be of the mindset that they aren’t special, aren’t talented, aren't’ good enough. To which I usually respond with, good enough for what? For life? That makes no sense. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been born! You’re here therefore you matter. Simple as that. When my mom died in 2015, I lost my biggest fan, best friend…