Fiction & Poetry

The seneschal is the steward of a feudal lord's estate.

One of many fears. Blank verse, which I shall never write again.

A short story about how a fox uses his brians to get out of a sticky situation. Based on an old Chinese folk tale.

She constantly desired sound instead of silence and tapped her foot in rhythm to the clock ticks...

A poem of spring

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him--he has known a fear beyond every other. - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

...

A poem

Wherein a well-meaning but immature student-teacher begins a journey of understanding that a teacher needs to not be completely self-centered and self-absorbed and occasionally remember that there are some short people in the room, collectively known as students, that require her attention. Originally appeared in Parodied Professions.

Won a 2004 English dept award at Smith

Part I of the prequel/sequel to "Into the West: A Tragic Boating Accident", yet another collaboration between the unrepentant blasphemers. (For we writers of crack-fic are incorrigible, and sometimes moved by the muse when stuck on public transportation with nothing but an ATM slip with which to amuse oneself.) Cookies for anyone who notices the influence of L.M. Montgomery.

An excerpt. Won the Gertrude Posner Spencer Prize in Fiction.

Oh, horror, the horror! 'Twas a dark day when D. and I found ourselves forced onto that lowest form of human conveyance, the Greyhound Bus. And how, gentle reader, did dear D. and I survive that perilous journey, trapped in a bus with alcoholics, leerers, the impoverished, fashion disasters, idiots, loud people, quiet yet exceedingly annoying people, children, Methodists, drug addicts, finger-snappers, foot-tappers, and people who insisted on breathing all the time? Why, we wrote a story together! In my journal I wrote a few sentences, then passed it to D., who wrote a few more, and so forth. We did not plan very well at all, and so the story at times shows a conspicuous lack of plot and/or direction, but I think our story, "In the West: A Tragic Boating Accident," demonstrates some brilliant characterization. Besides, it kept us amused for two hours, which is more than can be said of most short stories written these days.