I wonder at your brevity. So direct, and to the point. Short, then long, then short: always bending those two images into something new. But couldn’t you just elaborate a little more? Wouldn’t our readers benefit more from a Tik Tok than a snapshot? Look, I know you pride yourself on being the shortest form,…

“… is a doormat with an attitude!” It’s one of her many copyrighted expressions. Yes, I live with a master of one-liners. The Bride is the Emma Bombeck of our generation–if I ever convince her to publish a weekly column. She’s also famous for this one (said the night of an Easter Vigil mass): “Skip…

Barely past dawn on that wine-dark sea, I heard the sea shanty of distant sailors, on a ship I could not see… “Shiver me timbers this sea breeze so cold!” On, on, pull the line on “Will I see a rich port before I get old?” Give me a hand, and pull the line on…

As if there were any other way, and yet, there is not… His quickness to turn over the keys, that telltale odor on his breath; his tongue in a flutter of release, conversing with an overtone of death. How his face locks up like struck flintlock or cringes up as he lets loose more tears.…