REPOST: The Exodus

While I’m in Montreal singing with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, I’ll be reposting some classic Scintillations for your amusement. Enjoy! This is an idea for a short story that I had a while ago, but never actually wrote. Somewhat NSFW for swearing and blasphemy. Two-page story: The Exodus Some people dislike leaving. I’ve always found [...]

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Hollywood! Here I come!

I had an AWESOME idea last night for a blockbuster Hollywood romantic comedy.  Screw opera and poetry, this is what’s going to propel me into the spotlight. Here’s the treatment: The Jerk Whisperer Tagline: The biggest jerk is always the one you find…in your heart. Matthew [Vince Vaughan] is the world’s first “Jerk Whisperer”. Author, [...]

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An open letter to Rita Mae Brown

Dear Rita, Many years ago I read your book Rubyfruit Jungle with great pleasure. It’s not every writer that can make a lesbian Bildungsroman a light-hearted and fun read. Also, if you had never written anything except the title of your first book of poetry, you would have earned my respect, because The Hand that [...]

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Repost: Two-page story

For some reason this has been in the “Top Posts” sidebar for a while. You judge for yourself just why. Reposted from last May. Two-page story One: I woke up. Two: It was morning. Three: I was not at home. Where I was I didn’t know, or I wasn’t sure, or I’d forgotten. I was [...]

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Too long away from the sun

She was gone.  The window was open, and she was gone.  I looked stupidly outside at the tree in bloom and the blue sky behind it.  She was gone. It wasn’t unexpected, of course.  She had been getting restless for a while.  I wasn’t even sad, particularly, just deeply, humbly, unbelievably, sure.  Final things, you [...]

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Complaining with Kay, Episode 22.5, Literary Supplement: Soldier.

In this episode: Soldier “I lied about my wedding ring…” Two-page story Sax solo Music: “Egyptian Song” (Rupert Davies, arr. and performed by Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip My dorky piano rendition of “Dream a little dream of me” Link.

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Spoiler

Hey there, sad, miserable, lonely person, don’t try to bring the world down, OK?  Not the world, not even one person, not even if you hate him.  Not even if he hurt you and he deserved it.  Not for that.  Not for anything. I’m no stranger to revenge, but I know it doesn’t work.  In [...]

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People lie on the Internet, Part 2: I knew it!

Some time ago I speculated (in a post entitled “I suck at chess”) about someone faking a terminal illness in an online community.  And it turns out…I was right! In all honesty, I can totally see how something like this could get started.  We all like a good ego-stroking, and I suppose if you were [...]

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Complaining with Kay, Episode 18.5: The Literary Supplement

I read some little things I’ve written – some prose poems and one, um, poem poem. “On one of the streets near where I live…” First Love Ground State “Will you say to yourself…” Music in this episode: “Kornblumen” (Richard Strauss, performed by me and Ben – recorded live at Hart House last November) “Fleurs” [...]

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Complaining with Kay, Episode 17: The Exodus.

Encouraged by some positive feedback on last week’s dramatic monologue reading (OK, one nice comment on Facebook…), I offer a reading of the story I posted yesterday.  I would have used a Dweezil Zappa sort of accent for the narrator, but…I can’t do accents.  Except for Ranier Wolfcastle. Also in this episode: why on earth [...]

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