Because I don’t want any human intruders in my yard — With thanks to this song by Kelis (raunchiness warning!). Lyrics only here. My catnip will bring a lost cat to my yard My neighbor’s boy, who left her in sobs That’s right, my stoic neighbor If it works I’ll share my formula. My catnip will bring the escapee to my…

My first Ukrainian phrases hinted at a country in chaos — Soon after Ukrainian soldiers and citizens began the battle to defend their country, I decided to start tackling their language. I felt helpless to intervene physically — so instead I chose this small way to support a culture a dictator wanted to decimate. …

A poem for those stuck in a mattress sinkhole — Stand up, stupid! they say. Stride blindly into this busy writhing world. No useful human hesitates — It’s duty, contribution that’ll be the measure of you. Unless you’re special? Yes, a snowflake of lazy. A drain on taxpayers, the devil’s lackey. Get up! It’s simple — Yet ridiculous to all who’ve…

My body lay in a hospital bed, but I didn’t know it — I was gone. For days, I think — I don’t know how long. Where do you go when you leave? When your mind disengages from your body, temporarily? Unlocks and the mist of your spirit drifts overhead, gathers in a powdered-sugar cloud. Can visitors put fingers through it, stroke it…

A simple morning ritual, transformed by paying attention — Every morning for months, a pear was my medicine. I remember. First bite through taut speckled skin — more yellow than green, still ripening. A little grassy, a little honey, the juice oozing cool from refrigeration. I hesitate at the tangy grit — except those sugar-tinged tidbits, dissolved under teeth…

My illicit love discovered — I shushed sleep’s seductions. He was a man, according to German grammar, and we had only a distant relationship. He wanted me, though, every minute of the night and most of the waking day. He begged me to lie down and unite with him. Over and over, I had to…

A small loss shocks me, but their song must go on — After the sting of winter comes the soft hand of spring. The tree outside my window is diminished. Its profusion of leaves — once my days’ natural backdrop and curtain of privacy, the domain of finches and doves and any number of others — has disappeared so I see my…

Electroconvulsive therapy changed my life without leaving a mark — One of my earliest memories is of getting stung by a jellyfish. I was maybe six, maybe four, visiting my grandpa off the coast of Florida. Like with other electrifying memories, the details — the year, my age, the exact location — got knocked out by the emotional shock. This…

A cold late night turned magical — The other day, I stood in line at Walgreens with ginger ale for nausea and a few things I didn’t need. Just ahead of me, a man fumbled with his wallet. Hunched over, he asked the clerk in a desperate whisper, “Do you accept EBT for cat food?” …