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Author Archives: John Swinburn
Call Me Captain
First, let me tell you what is on my plate. From the left, going clockwise, we have cucumber spears, halved radishes, extra sharp white cheddar cheese, smoked clams, and sliced tomatoes. I’ve touched up the cucumber spears with Tajín, the … Continue reading
Wielding a Razor
I pushed the lever on the handle of the utility knife with my right thumb. The handle’s hidden razor, a new one made of polished carbon steel, slid forward in response, emitting a satisfying “click” when it locked. From here on, I … Continue reading
Staggering
Every once in a while, I find my mind gravitating toward the ocean. I cannot escape its seduction, its vast secret store of surprises. Just a few months ago, I remember spending a day reading about and marveling at how many … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
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Confrontation
The most difficult experiences take place at the intersection of acknowledging one’s most egregious imperfections and accepting one’s inadequacies to overcome them. Those are the points at which one asks whether arguments in favor of continuing to live have any merit. Those are the events that lure doubt out from its hidden places … Continue reading
Citrus and Spoons and Sharp Things
When I was a child, we ate a lot of grapefruit, ruby red grapefruit from the Texas Rio Grande Valley, where I was born. After we moved to Corpus Christi, my father’s job involved regular travel to The Valley (as we … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Tools
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Celestial Experience
I don’t know what drew me outside this evening. Perhaps it was the need to get out in the cool night air or maybe I assumed last night’s and this morning’s rains cleansed the air. Whatever prompted me outdoors, I … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Philosophy
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Causes
Sometimes, when I hear the guttural growl of rolling thunder, beginning with an abrupt bone-jarring crack that fades into the distance, I imagine the fierce battle between Zeus and Typhon taking place far above me. Their combat is hidden from my view, but … Continue reading
Posted in Mythology, Nature
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The Lesson of Hard- Boiled Eggs
Properly cooked, hard-boiled eggs provide a surprising and joyous sensory experience; not just the sense of taste, but the senses of touch and accomplishment. Few experiences parallel the sheer joy of cracking and peeling a perfectly cooked hard-boiled egg. A sharp … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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New Wisdom
Yesterday, between trips to Kroger’s and Lowe’s for groceries and household hardware, respectively, we made a quick stop at the Garland County Library, where my wife dropped off a couple of books and picked up a few more. While she was … Continue reading
Venom
If hate were a water moccasin, you’d be dead by now. Its venom would have siphoned the life out of you, spilling your rage in a torrent of thinned blood. But hate’s not a water moccasin, so you’re still alive, if … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
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Sunday Breakfast
I could wait no longer. With the talk of breakfast in my earlier post, my hunger got the best of me. So I peeled a hard-boiled egg, sliced a tomato, shaved a little habanero pepper, snagged a few leaves of cilantro, and finished … Continue reading
Posted in Food
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In the Dead of Night
As I sit to write whatever it is that will follow, I look at the clock. The time is three-thirty and I’ve been up for almost an hour. It’s not as bad as it might seem, though, as I went to bed … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Flaws
You read about people with hard, brittle flaws, imperfections that wreck lives. You empathize with those people and feel pity for their friends and family, the real victims. Yet you’re secretly paralyzed with fear those flawed people have idiosyncrasies in common with you, … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
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First Person Perpendicular, Part 1
The morning before Daddy-o Compton died was simply spectacular; there’s no other word for it. Brilliant sunlight reflected off of everything it touched. Even the weathered grey siding of the abandoned First Baptist Church, carrying a hundred years of dirt and grit and … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
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Stream of Semi-Consciousness
Today’s massive dose of excitement will include: Cleaning up a database for an organization to which I belong; Visiting my doctor again to give him the opportunity to try again to determine the cause of, and recommend a solution to, … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Sex in a Sports Car
Rain stuttered, off and on, through a heavy mist as the remnants of a cold front pushed through. Regular classes did not meet on Saturdays, so the parking lot, hidden among a thick clot of pine trees, was almost empty. Registrants for the … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
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Cosmic Reflections
The thing that distinguishes you from the ground on which you walk is irrelevant. You are that ground and it is you. Just like the ants you cannot see unless you focus intently on that infinitesimal space beneath their tiny legs, … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Affliction
Does anyone else among the billions of people on this planet share that secret emotion with me, that emotion I cannot adequately describe in words? The emotion is a hybrid between longing and terror; between dispassionate acceptance and vehement denial. It resides somewhere deep inside … Continue reading
Licorice
For as long as I can remember, I have appreciated almost all flavors. Everything was good, in the right context. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or savory (AKA umami), it was all good. Everything but licorice. Licorice and its allies were, … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Memories
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An Only Slightly Augmented Retelling of a Dream
My wife and I stood in the kitchen, working on a nondescript breakfast. Working in an unfamiliar kitchen, we chopped vegetables and cracked eggs. After washing my hands, I went into the back yard, where I dug three enormously deep holes … Continue reading
Posted in Dreams
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Analysis
As a child, I wasn’t beaten or relentlessly berated and made to feel inadequate but maybe I should have been. Perhaps such jarring experiences would have triggered whatever it is in the human brain that creates indelible recollections of the arc of … Continue reading
Posted in Memories, Writing
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Temple
The scent of sandalwood confronted me the instant I opened the door of the dim temple— just a tiny room with a low ceiling, really—in Gander’s modest bungalow. The aroma was faint, as if just a memory, but clear. There, in this sacred … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
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Cartel Land
I am not quite sure how I feel about Cartel Land, a documentary film I watched last night. The film follows two groups of vigilantes, one on the U.S. side of the Arizona-Mexico border and one deep inside the Mexican state of Michoacán, … Continue reading
Posted in Film
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Fashionista. Not Quite, But…
One changes, doesn’t one? Over time, I mean. Who would have thought, two or three years ago, that I would ever feel not only comfortable with, but a just a little excited about, wearing a sports coat and a pair … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Clothes, Fashion
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Be Careful What You Think
My mind often wanders to the dark, morbid edges of curiosity, sniffing about to find ideas that might not appeal to the masses. I suppose my motivation is, in part, ego; I want to be unique and am driven toward subjects about … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Just Thinking, Writing
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