Writing
Stories
I write short stories. Some. Most are short. Really short. Let’s call them ‘short shorts’ for short. One is a ‘long story’ which I excerpted below.
More (than) Zen Stories: New sprouts from old tales
In this collection, I take five old Zen stories and continue them with a sequel that, I believe, brings new inspirations and insights.
- The Hermit of Moon Village
- Not Enough Cups
- There is Seed and There is Seed
- Twenty Years and Nothing
- The Invitation
Storm Coming: Short and Stormy Stories
- Storm Coming
- Memorial Day
- Driftwood
- Song and Dance
- A Little Stitching
- Silverado
- Fair Game
- Waxing Gibbous
- Peeling Paint
- Recycling
- Mr. Kim’s Apartment
- Audio Diary, July 5, 2031
- Margery’s Pot
- The Harvest
- Inquiry on the Green Experiment
- Last Night
In 2020, that first COVIDian year when a tiny beast targeted the human community, I focused on writing a novela or long short story of some thirty thousand words (75 pages). It is Centerfold. I have not yet published it. But I think the opening two pieces of it are fun, so I put that here for your enjoyment.
Poems
I write poems. They are short, too, even shorter than my ‘short short’ stories. As you would think. As for ‘writing’ poems. I don’t know…Mostly I seem to midwife them, midwife not the words for the most part, but the essential drop, the idea, that some muse-like phenomenon has sort of dropped on the top of my head when I am not looking at the sky. I am looking at the world, yes indeed. But the the poem comes into that from the side or something. Say, isn’t it amazing how rarely a bird drops its digestive refuse on our heads? Those little beings must be watching us.
For now, see my art site, TKPhelps, for a few of these.
Memoirs
For now, see my art site, TKPhelps, for a few of these.