REST IN PEACE

REST IN PEACE

From Palermo eastward to Messina, then south along the straits across from mainland Italy, Sicily rises steeply from the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. Millenia of seasonal rains have carved river beds into steep, narrow folds in a deeply corrugated, undulating...
Wearing a Mask

Wearing a Mask

Years ago, I came across a bound set of dated motivational posters in a bookshop in New York. I bought it for its retro-chic graphics. The posters were designed to hang in canteens or locker rooms where the workforce might absorb their exhortations to kindness,...
Mercy

Mercy

Following a bereavement late in life I underwent a prolonged struggle to regain my sense of purpose. Everyone said a pet would be a good idea, that it would help me steady myself, give me a focus, cheer me up. The timing was perfect, they said. I determined I would...
Communion

Communion

My local was a small roadside pub, just beyond the Leitrim border, on an otherwise empty stretch of the regional road leading into Sligo. It is closed now. The license has been sold. Most people called it Vincie’s; the old ones called it Hargadan’s. A round sign...
Leckaun

Leckaun

I once owned the old cottage across the lane, and the twenty-five acres of moss-covered grassland that it sits on, up a switch-back lane off the Calry Road in North Leitrim. Sheep-wire fences and stone walls divide it into grazing fields poised above the surrounding...
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

In the beginning, the time I spent with Louis was limited to Friday nights. He would insist on going home at sunup on Saturday. I didn’t ask any questions. I was grateful for his attention, and I didn’t look much beyond Friday night anyway. In my twenties Friday night...

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