How Hard the Ground

“No matter how hard the ground, beauty finds a way out.” Dan Baldwin Even at slightly after one in the morning, the air out here is neither hot nor cold. Tepid, maybe. I like that word. The air is tepid, and fueled with a particular kind of dread. It’s the fear of the expected. The ripe anticipation of knowing what we’re about to see, and knowing we can’t look away. We can’t just gawk and go … Read more

The Spring

In jeans and an olive-drab t-shirt, Mark Smith sat on his front porch in the late evening hours of November first. His M-14 rifle—well, the civilian version, a reasonable facsimile still in 7.62 millimeter—lay across his lap. Over the past half-hour, he’d disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the rifle. It was a weekly chore, and it kept him connected. The sounds of some inane sitcom filtered out through the door, complete with the laugh track. He shook … Read more