The silence was deafening. Except for the whir of the wind in the grasses and the clicking of grasshoppers in their yellow flight, except for the hiss and pop of the small fire on the rock, Eric couldn’t hear a sound. The sagebrush and sweet grass fire flickered in the wind, blue and yellow, on … Continue reading The Emptiest Empty is Silence
Tag: humanity
How a carbon tax could fight poverty and climate change at the same time — Anthropocene
Putting a price on carbon could help low- and middle-income countries alleviate poverty and improve their citizens’ lives, a team of German researchers reported July 16 in Nature Sustainability. The researchers gathered data on how much it would cost to fully implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 68 different countries. The SDGs… I … Continue reading How a carbon tax could fight poverty and climate change at the same time — Anthropocene
On the Trail to Hidden Lake from Logan Pass Visitor’s Center
Under an empty sky and blank rock, a thousand little fragments trudge along a plank path to appreciate what is hidden. Are there billy goat trolls hidden under this bridge to beyond? Something always is hidden beneath or beyond belief. Under the hollow path is nothing but shadow and the clomp of a thousand fragments … Continue reading On the Trail to Hidden Lake from Logan Pass Visitor’s Center
Why Pete Direpall Sometimes Ducked out the Back Door
Pete Direpall ducked back into the bank. Usually when somebody ducks like that they are hiding from a creditor or an X or a naughty girlfriend. But this was not the case for Pete Direpall. After thirty years of usury, he was rich beyond belief. He could use thousand dollar bills for toilet paper and … Continue reading Why Pete Direpall Sometimes Ducked out the Back Door
Cora Doesn’t Find What She was Looking For
When Cora Greenfline turned away under that heavy sun, she turned away forever. What she turned away from was what she had not found, and what it told her of what she thought she was looking for. As it turned out all there had been were two gaudily painted toy-like engines facing each other, as … Continue reading Cora Doesn’t Find What She was Looking For
When Daddy Drinks the Laundry
Mother Mary sat quietly in the sunshine across the street from Olivia’s. It did me good to see her in the spring sun. A lot of people were walking past, and Mother sat quietly in the spring sun, her faded blue denim shirt open for the sun on her throat, and her orange and blue … Continue reading When Daddy Drinks the Laundry
The Parade Makes a Hard Right into Chaos
O this ragabash of clowns leading the national parade with their upside trickle downs their ships for shoes and flappy gowns— their huuuuuge fake news charade! O hang this ragabash of clowns and the unfunny mess they’ve made with their treacle nonsense nouns and gibberish through smiles as frowns their constant in and out charade. … Continue reading The Parade Makes a Hard Right into Chaos
Orson Dwid Meets a Neighbor
Orson Dwid had just about had it with the guy wearing the bright pink shirt and scintillating green jeans. Where the hell do they sell that kind of. . . . Orson could not think of an appropriate adjective to describe whatever the guy was wearing. He was going to say ‘shit’ but it was … Continue reading Orson Dwid Meets a Neighbor
I Only Go Because I Need
I looked at the clock on the tower behind the big church, and it was 11:32. It was five hours and twenty-eight minutes until they served at the shelter. I crossed Main and went up 2nd past the fruity tutti bar. Everybody knows me here and just scowl and tell me to move along. They … Continue reading I Only Go Because I Need
A Neighbor, a Bull, Some Purebred Cows, and a Dilapidated Fence.
This morning Archie Dwiddlen was retrospecting about some of our old neighbors. It seems Alden and Issac were neighbors with a fence between them. There was a some confusion about who should maintain the fence. Alden was pretty sure it was Issac’s potion of the fence that Alden’s mongrel angus bull was sneaking through to … Continue reading A Neighbor, a Bull, Some Purebred Cows, and a Dilapidated Fence.
Home of Have, Poems by Lee Robison 