I was in the self-checkout line at Kroger this afternoon, about six people deep, when the guy in front of me started talking. He was twenty-two, I’m guessing, a good four inches taller than me, and in a Kroger uniform. He had one Christmas card in his hand. That was all. As we stood there,…
During our quick trip to New York this week, we spent the better part of one afternoon in the Metropolitan Museum of Art losing all sense of direction and finding bits of wonder, love, and praise in many of the paintings, photographs, and sculptures that inhabit the place. Eventually, we wandered in amongst the Impressionists….
Here’s Who I Saw Today: a high school friend who met me for breakfast and a walk around Midtown Manhatthan; the man who drove the shuttleto JFK fighting through trafficand still had energy to smile; the TSA identification checkerwho never changed his facialexpression as he worked; the server at our favoriteMexcian restaurant in Durhamwho welcomed…
we were walking back to our hotelas the moon was climbing the ladderof night above us we were walkingdown the avenueagainst the currentof tourists and taxisleaning into the wind we were walkingaway from the showwe had come to seefull of the laughterand lightness of life we were walkinginto a night that willgive birth to the…
On this Solstice night, we are chasing daylight in New York City. I surprised Ginger with a trip to see one of her all-time favorite things, now on Broadway: Pee Wee’s Playhouse. There are days to write and reflect and there are days to bask in the sheer joy of love and what it means…
Tomorrow I get to showthe person I love mosthow much I love herhow much I get herwith a surprise that has her name writtenall over itI wonderif this isa hint ofwhat Godfelt like onChristmas Eve. Peace,Milton
My friend David died a year ago today. I wished I could have talked to him about the repeal of DADT and the failure of the DREAM Act and his daughter’s graduation and what he was doing for Christmas and what music he had been listening to and what the plans were for camp next…
we made a depositat our local food bank 524 pounds of groceries math doesn’t do much for poetry, but here arethe numbers: they need112,329 pounds of foodeveryday – every day we had eight ninth gradeboys who unloaded the truck and then stood on the scale together one ton of teenagerwho had brought halftheir weight in…
“History is written by the winners.” So wrote one of my students in a list of ten quotes that were meaningful to him that I had asked him and his class to find and explain. His take on the quote was: “If you win, you get to be important.” Perhaps. Or at least you get…
I’ve been staring at the screen for a couple of hours now. I had a couple of ideas I was chasing, but my mind kept coming back to the sadness that has marked my day because it was one year ago today that I got the call that my dear friend, David Gentiles, had been…