Charlie Chaplin, the master of laughter and tears — Dear Charlie, If you were here, I would ask you many questions. Like, why did you make so many mistakes with women? Why did J. Edgar Hoover think you had communist connections? And how did you cope with being exiled from the United States and then choosing to live in…

While coming home from Long Beach on Highway 60 — I’ve seen wildfires from a distance, but never this close. I took these wildfire photos on our way home to Palm Springs from Long Beach on Highway 60. It was a hot, windy day; the hills were dry, the perfect conditions for a wildfire. This fire had just started and…

Need not lessen the pain — Dear Author: Vincent Van Gogh only sold a couple of paintings An editor rejected Sylvia Plath because she didn’t have the knack An editor claimed Rudyard Kipling didn’t know English well enough Talented artists, like yourself, should stick to their vision, because being rejected by a little rag like ours is no great…

A poem about childhood regression — You might know me I was the shameful kid standing in the middle of the room, fearing a reprimand, after another nightly regression Was it really my fault? Did I drink too much last night? Am I lazy or was the wet spot born out of frustration and trauma? Embarrassment always leads to remorse — it seemed…

Who’s also a crazy tailback running for the senate — Run, Hershel, run Run through the end zone, to a different state, a foreign country, another planet — and take your rubber chickens with you Oh Herschel, that dope you've been smokin' and the bible you've been thumpin' won't do a damn thing for this country because you don't know diddly…

A little girl's beach story — Ali called the sea urchins sand dollars. She found them at low tide during the morning. She often dug along the shoreline with a plastic shovel to uncover them and put the ones with the legs back in the seawater. Ever since Ali was a little girl, she searched for…

A poem about changing direction — It is the American way to suppress our fear, or ignore the warning signs — hell, we love a good war movie, a mission impossible, a reckless car chase but it is the idiot who does not respect the sage, who warns us of an impending doom It is the…

Poetry prompt response: ‘getting unstuck’ — In the crumpled pages of my mind, I choose to remain stuck, like sticks deep in the sand, my muse is black and numb, covered in seaweed, only the salty air is keeping it alive Maybe I don’t want to move, or perhaps I have no place to go I’d rather watch…