StateoftheOzarks Weekly

The Pear Tree

BEEN THINKING ABOUT… THE PEAR TREE. The pear tree in the yard has leafed, shade dappled beneath an increasingly hot sun. Mist rose in the holler last night, turning the sunset red. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. The grass beneath the pear is already thick and raucous, overgrown where the lawn had once…

StateoftheOzarks Weekly

Roses in a Dark Room

BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… ROSES IN A DARK ROOM. A dark bedroom, a single light. The lamp was a strange thing, heavily weighted, long, spindly neck, rough black charcoal-like texture of hood and base, the lamp of a mid-century engineer with a black briefcase and shoes buffed until persistently reflective. But engineering was a world away,…