Spark and Spitfire

Death

  • My First Hospital Admission

    I recently learned two truths: One, experiencing heart attack symptoms is profoundly frightening; and two, mouth guards float. Continue reading

    My First Hospital Admission

  • Succumbing to a Broken Heart

    Losing a child to suicide is unbearable. It is a heartache no one can heal. Continue reading

    Succumbing to a Broken Heart

  • My First Boyfriend

    My first boyfriend died on May 15. Jack Boyer was 66 years old. He gave me what my mother labeled, “Sharie’s first ‘love’ note on October 21, 1959. Jack and I were in first grade. Jack died suddenly from an… Continue reading

    My First Boyfriend

  • AFTER

    What happens the moments before we die? Do we have one last burst of human thought before entering the afterlife? Do we experience hallucinations? Clarifications? Darkness? Light? These are the questions explored in, “After,” Andrew Schneider’s technical theater performance which… Continue reading

    AFTER

  • The Cruelest Month — Part Three

    As many of you know, I walk daily, always with dog biscuits in my pocket. Over the years, I’ve come to know dozens of dogs. I even love several of them. One of them was dear Eva. Last Thursday, Eva… Continue reading

    The Cruelest Month — Part Three

  • The Cruelest Month — Part Two

    Stanley Plumly, a poet who served as the poet laureate of Maryland for nine years, died on April 11 from complications of multiple myeloma. He was 79 years old. According to his obituary in the Washington Post, Plumly’s poetry, “drew… Continue reading

    The Cruelest Month — Part Two

  • A Hush Now, Linda Gregg

    Within four days of each other two of my favorite poets have died: W.S. Merwin on March 15, and Linda Gregg two days ago. Gregg was first introduced to me by my late poet friend, Kathy Mitchell, and yesterday, I… Continue reading

    A Hush Now, Linda Gregg

  • Thanks, W.S. Merwin

    W.S. Merwin, whose poems about the fragility of the natural world and the horrors of the Vietnam War earned him two Pulitzer Prizes and made him one of the preeminent English-language poets of the past five decades, died March 15… Continue reading

    Thanks, W.S. Merwin

  • Ignite 2/1/19

    “Life is a great surprise,” said Vladimir Nabokov, “I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.” Continue reading

    Ignite 2/1/19

  • Winter Sleep

    Yesterday, much-loved poet Mary Oliver died of lymphoma. She was 83. As NPR posted in its obituary, “Oliver won many awards for her poems, which often explore the link between nature and the spiritual world; she also won a legion… Continue reading

    Winter Sleep