‘Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the house,Pieces of cookies sprinkled Grandma’s Christmas blouse.She’d baked tasty recipes for almost a full week,Making Christmas cookies her grandchildren would eat. She sang familiar carols; sugar crystals twinkled in air,Until she called for each cookie, to package itself with care: “Oh, chocolate-covered cherries, up off the baking sheet,Place yourself gently next to t...

You're asking about Thumper's court case? He's a gladiator: battle scars, tats, muscles. Obviously, he’s a winner. You don’t find losers by the Olympic-sized estate pool with zinc oxide sunscreen slathered on a flattened nose. His white-belted red swim trunks yesterday reminded me of the ones he wears in the ring. He has a boxer's stance when he's on his feet. The announcers call him Thumper by the way he beats men to the...

The Miami sun is a friend of mine. Dappling off the pool's surface in the early morning, the sun creates playful, refracted, writhing patterns on the surface. The rippling patterns shifting in size and shape bring me a little joy. I wait quietly, knowingly, for sunscreen-covered, bikini-clad teenage girls to fill the pool area with boys, giggles, and estrogen. Eventually, their parents will arrive with the day's heat. The...