How to write a cry? How to write a screama sobthe grief that seepslike green oil frommy pressed heart? How to write a prayera pleaa spell of protection? How to write an open hand,shelter and signalto stay the fistthe gasthe grenadethe gun? The battering ramthe speeding tenebrous truckthe wall of riot shieldsthe helmets and the Read more

This morning’s heavy fog is bright. I sit in the cloud, up here on the sixth floor, and watch the air around me shift from white to gold to rosy pink. Just overhead, soft grey shadows race down the hill to the Tagus River, where every minute a sonorous foghorn sings out. It sounds gently, Read more

I landed in Berlin one year ago today. I have been here a year! I have lived in six apartments. This one is my favorite. I feel brand-new here. I have a few friends here. I cannot navigate this city yet. German comes more easily, but I still don’t know the words. I feel brand-new. Read more

the untroubled patter of the rain on the leaves the hollow roar of the S-Bahn, like some distant monsterturning over in its cave the little clicks and clacks of the neighbor’s day, item against itempractical and indistinct the harried rumbleshriek of the tramofficious and important the pigeons’ wings beating warm and earthy against their bodies Read more

This morning, like most mornings the last few months, I wake up and give thanks that I have awoken, again, in this place, that this is my life. That this is my life. That this is my life. That this is my life. That for better and for worse, as far as I know, I Read more

I arrived in Berlin six months ago today. With the 29 minutes I have left of this day, I thought I’d reflect quickly and briefly on this milestone. (I am all too aware of how long it has been since I have shared an update; every time I sit down to write, I end up Read more

Earlier this week, as my devising group and I were checking in, I began by saying, “This week . . .” and my colleague Felipe finished my sentence with, “a month.” And that was only Wednesday! The last week and a half of my life, our lives, has been so full, with painful, hard conversations, Read more