Follow my sister, Nina, and me as we make a book together: my writing and her gorgeous inks on paper.

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16. The Business of Women – Part One

Posted on August 24, 2020

When we were in our early twenties and unmarried, Nina and I would sit outside with our mom, drink white wine out of Polish crystal, watch squirrels give chase across the low brick wall that lined her patio. Gouda and apple slices and English water crackers would appear. We’d be dressed hippie casual in jeans, boots and gauzy pastel shirts, shades of mango, yellow, lilac, and Mom would have on creased slacks, flat sandals, and a silk shirt in an elegant subtle pattern of browns and tans, like a pintail duck, gliding across the surface. We smoked different brands: Kents for mom, menthol lights for my sister and me. We shared one lighter, one ashtray. We didn’t worry about our lungs even though Mom…

15. The Tub is Deep

Posted on August 24, 2020

On our first night in London, we meet our son in the lounge for martinis. We’ve fled Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He’s got a head full of thick, rambunctiously graying hair even before he hits thirty, which will be next month. In the pocket of his jacket, he’s stuffed a book by George Orwell because tube time is reading time. He’s a historian, packing his brain with what’s left to know. We hug and turn sheepish, first, then rubbery because we are reunited, then peckish since his dad and I haven’t eaten since the airplane and Andrew is always hungry. He sits between us so we can both hear him. It’s hard not to gawk at this human we raised. On the small…

Love In The Time of Covid

Posted on August 8, 2020

Excerpts from QUARANTENA – the next book I’m working on with my sister Nina – found a home in a new international literary journal: Love in the Time of COVID: A Chronicle of a Pandemic. It’s the brainchild of New Zealand-based editors Michelle Elvy and Witi Ihimaera, who have created a space for stories from around the world that hold up our humanity and enrich our lives.  https://loveinthetimeofcovidchronicle.com “Life Lock” – Ink on cold pressed watercolor paper – 22″ x 30″