SIDEBAR

First Love

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Sep 08 2017
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In the Japanese garden lined with boulders and irregular grey slate slabs Jim Eney (e-knee) sits at the corner of a nine-foot picnic table. Missional discipleship is raised up strong like the six-foot Literati Bonzai tree. The trunk’s growth patterns have dramatic curves like living in intentional community with ten different men. Its refined elegance has been created by all the twists and turns. Like the tray-planted Literati Bonsai, Jim and his wife Janet have been repotted in the Culver House all the way from Portland, Oregon according to the potter’s hand. When Steve Petermeyer cheerfully told Jim, “We got […]

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What He Faces

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Sep 03 2017
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Here in Cairo, Egypt the coordinates are unspecified. Micro machines multiply like big data. Exponentials deliver the truth in a revealed exposure. A frame is within a frame, within a frame, within a frame. The age of the search for freedom causes the spirit to shudder in rapid successive bursts. An individual drowns in the vast sums ever going in meters’ machines. One cannot stop the flow. Egyptians risk their lives just to get by. Spending time here gave me more than simple pounds, but an intimate view under the covers of a culture bound by metal stick pins holding […]

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Easy Come

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Aug 02 2017
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Mina towards the back is stuffed between street-dragged plastic burlap bags. Recyclables are slung over their backs like backpacks; muscles taxed. A banged-up 1980s compact pick-up truck with it’s bed piled six plastic burlap bags high delivered the plastic goods. Slipknots tie down the plastic burlap bags as the rear suspension sagged. Gergis towards the front of the frame looks at the large quantity of plastic shreds. Their meager builds are strong and robust. The heavy lifting saps their strength towards the end of their shift, but keeps their shape lean. The acrid aroma does not damper the joy found […]

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Midnight Special

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Jul 19 2017
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Jonathan Hawley quietly exhales Marlboro Menthol smoke below the smooth and rich belly of the advancing marine layer. Although separate each breath seeks to join the other in coastal coolness. Dissipate to nothing in seconds. Particles in the puffs leave the tingling inside. In deployment, anticipating joining the joint task force like warships overseas into the Tokyo Bay. A high-voltage power pole like a hand rolled cigar mimics the cruel King of the Jews crucifixion. Dark power lines hang in the background like a closed circus act. They resurrect the possibility of free utility in the kingdom. Brightly shining in […]

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Gift Basket

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Jul 15 2017
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A chain-link metal wave curls over the founder of Crossover 4 Christ, Jacob Barbour. The cold lip stops before it crashes. Jacob dribbles the NCAA basketball on the Union overpass as the east-west CT interstate 84 late night traffic roars underneath. He breaks into a signature basketball move called the crossover. The purpose of the move is the juke and/or stifle the opposing players so they will not impede the charge into the paint or simply shoot a fade away jumper. Add 2. And 1. The yellow curb and the basketball direct attention toward an out of focus gray gothic […]

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Doorkeeper

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Jul 06 2017
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Maurice, a servant like Jude, is waiting for you behind the Notre Dame monastery’s high wall perimeter. The turquoise door matches the Mediterranean Sea’s hue as it lapses against the giant concrete cubes overgrown green algae beards.  He is the doorman for the collection of villas run by the Sisters. His voice like his stature is stocky and strong. When he greets you the proper response is “ana kuwayis”. It’s easy to remember the location. Just veer left off Al Akbal Street because its before you reach McDonalds. In front McDelivery motorcycles and scooters line up with hotboxes ready to […]

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The Allograph

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Jul 01 2017
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The allograph caught my attention above the doorway: O’COME LET VS WORSHIP. Something swept me through the doorway. It was as if I had to. Return to an area some will say is better off dead. Many have not lived through a shock and awe campaign let alone development through tragedy and personal pain. They are stalled on the road and have not met the man who has wept for their down falls. During the draft, they flip out and land back inside the tank from where they were first called out. The rain falls heavy for a time like […]

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Short List

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Jun 28 2017
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Like a necklace, the white string of lights blink on and off below the S. Main Mini Market. Spaces in between blight and bling. The short list gets you inside. The dated marquee reads: beer & sodas, cigarettes, coffee and hot sandwiches. The bagginess of Christian ‘Beans’ Marrero Titan’s sports jacket, hoodie and pants style his hip-hop appearance. A retail collection of brand advertisements. Silver shoes with red laces are posted on the eroded, white coated crosswalk. Off the curb and into the street, Beans stands in the South Main neighborhood heavily populated with people like him: Puerto Rican. Dressings […]

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Box Seats

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Jun 16 2017
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Don’t overlook. Here is the new haven. Three floors up on Justin Torres’ balcony overlooking Vermont Street is a wide sky. Destruction, decay and shattered glass do not deter the dwellers who walk on holy land. Sweep off home plate. The brass city shimmers within the crooked streets. Who has bewitched you? Metal detection beeps. Family fixtures lit by the fireplace. Vermont street is no exception to the tarnish laid on the victorian and colonial homes like varnish. They’ll twinkle as the polish is applied from the sprinkle covering multi-families and multi-floors. It’s the circulating Blood healing everything. At least, […]

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Fruit Stand

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Jun 10 2017
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Pure fruits of the original garden have mostly been forgotten as quickly as a delicious bite. The muddy gardener created them good for food and good for the eye’s second look. Now, who knows the true journey of the fruit from the farm to the market square crates. The bonanza banana bunches have a time limit for when and why they’re used. Roller shutters are open for exchange. Fruits tilted toward the passerby on the street just like when they were on the branches of trees. Whether hanging on a rowed orchard branches or stand displayed on a city corner […]

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