“First Words,” by Daniel Holland

I’ve arrived in the Midwest now and am starting the work of making a new home for myself in St. Louis. My brother Gary Thompson flew out to visit me, fish with Daniel, and escort me back. We slept last night in the house we grew up in, where my father grew up, where he…

I was in my boxers enjoying my box turtle while eating my box lunch before the big boxing match on TV. But there was this old TV show “Let’s Make a Deal” and I wanted to know what was in box number 1. Imagine somebody took away the computers, pens and pencils. The only writing…

Freckles, why did you have sex with the poodle next door? Poor puppies have beagle faces and poodle hairstyles. After the love affair of the poodle, your girlfriend was that St. Bernard. When the St. Bernard jumped on the gray, roughened, falling-down fence, it shook like an earthquake. Freckles came running on all four paws…

I eat, smell, inhale, and cling to the dirt. I am gardener, feel my grit.

I always lie when I tell snow stories. You say you walked to school as a kid in two feet of snow. I say I walked in three feet of snow. Not only that–it was 20 degrees below zero. There were no bathrooms in sight, a lot of people around. I was pee-shy.