# Writing shorts. ![“Come close”, she said, / “For answers you seek, and in truth I deal. // There are beginnings, and there are ends. / There arise enemies, and there die friends. // Walk with me, talk with me, tell me your pains. / For I will listen, glisten, shimmer in the sunset – / As I pace, pause, and finally reveal.”](stories-come-close.jpg) ![“Effervescence,” he said, / “That's where they get their grace,” // As we watched / as they swirled, / curled, twirled, and unfurled; // “The beauty is in the steps, / that's how you can tell - / which ones are balanced, / and which ones are unwell.”](stories-effervescence.png) ![“Time heals all wounds,” she said, / her back to the window at the cafe, / dust dancing in the sun. // But she knew, and I knew, / that time is malleable, / And sometimes it comes to a halt.](stories-time-heals.png) ![The beach, / children laughing, running, / picking up shells, / footprints between / flotsam and jetsam. // As the ocean reels, / disgorging its dead // onto the sandy shores. / For us to avoid, laughing, / running, off for a snack.](stories-the-beach.png) ![As the tree grows, / one never knows – / which ways the branch goes / nor where the wind blows.](stories-as-the-tree-grows.png) ### Nobody told me No one told me there would be hair emerging – seemingly overnight – from places heretofore barren (a cheek, a chest, an elbow): wiry, off-color, and curious. Much like, I must add, the person I aspire to become. ### That smoke That smoke you taste, when the hill fires burn down into the city? It's trees, shrubs, personal possessions, that favorite dress, heirlooms, memories. ## How many hours How many hours, collectively, has humanity sat, waiting, watching spinners spin, hourglasses tumble, progress bars not progress? What could we have done in that same amount of time, collectively, all that humanity, as one? Could we have reached a pinnacle of achievement, a deeper meaning, a perfect result … in Candy Crush? ### Morning Black coffee calls me Beans and just enough water To make them liquid ∎