Clouds like cotton candy rest in a baby blue sky. The muddy ground is covered with brown needles and crunchy dead leaves. We’re on the obstacle course. We scurry over obstacles and run to the next like ants through a picnic. Jon Roberts, a single son from Arizona, is doing the over/under. A tent shaped […]

Oh our Constitution. Three branches of government. Can you name them? Judicial (Courts). Executive (President). Legislative (Congress). Three branches. None will have more power than the other. Do you remember this? Checks and balances. Tenth grade government class? No king or queen to run the whole show. Ninth grade Constitution class? No crazy judges writing […]

In Burger King today. In the Mission. The Mission. There are no other missions around. They’ve given up on this place long ago. There are no souls here to save. All damned. In Burger King. Hope of the whopper. The triple stacker. The artificial meat and artificial bread. Sucking down syrup mixed with carbonated water. […]

I hung this poster on my wall at Fort Benning. Our leadership went through our rooms regularly. I was 19 years old. I knew they would see it. My First Sergeant was inspecting rooms one morning. Everything was good. The floor free of dirt, boots polished, bathroom shiny. He stopped as he was leaving. “What’s […]

“Show me a man wearing an American flag pin in his lapel, and I’ll show you an asshole.” And don’t forget: Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore.

So I’m back on the facebook. I’m not a big fan of the facebook. But a former professor of mine started a facebook group, told me it was turning into a nice little network for writers. This group. Not facebook. He’s full of shit. There are no writers in this group of his. So now […]

Two dirty men pass a joint on a busy street corner. I’d recognize that sweet smell anywhere. Even over the rank odor of urine and shit and rotting teeth and rotting cities. I quit when I couldn’t find the words to match my thoughts. I’d think cat and write dog. Genocide became happy birthday. It […]

Jess Walter came in to read for us today. Before he took the podium our program manager told us, the people who showed up, that yes, in fact, Friday seminars are mandatory, they’re a class, and if you don’t show up, you’ll fail. There was a light turn out. And then the studio manager came […]

Captain Franks sits in the right front seat of the armored Humvee, his dark face clamped into a scowl, his finger tracing invisible lines on the map sprawled over his legs. “Where are we?” he asks. “Shit sir, I thought you knew.” Henry reaches under the radio shelf and pulls out a rag, smears the […]

Something I saw earlier reminded me of this story. I don’t remember what now, but I remember this story. I came on duty early one morning. A friend of mine called me on the radio, asked me to meet her in a parking lot. Have you ever seen two police cars parked driver’s side to […]