While putting together this section, I was surprised by how many poems, essays, and stories that I had published online  are no longer available because either the websites no longer exist, or the archives have been updated and older pieces have been deleted. What follows is all I could find out there on the web. Enjoy.

Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) is no longer publishing, but the archives is still up as of June 2013. Six of the 17 stories that eventually made it into my book Life in the Cathode Ray Glow are there for free, so read them while you can by following the links below. (Of course, you might want to simply buy the whole book anyway. Most of the previously published stories were substantially improved prior to their inclusion, and the Kindle version is very inexpensive.)

A World In Black and White

Here’s a nice story about being misunderstood. I began with a real incident and just ran with it, rendering it as pretty much unabashed fiction. Why would anyone make a serious attempt at “non-fiction” memoir writing regarding an incident that happened in kindergarten? By the way I write about this issue in “Telling Stories,” the afterward of Life in the Cathode Ray Glow. One reviewer thought that was the best part of the book. I’m not sure how I feel about that. And, for the record, yes, I really was sent to the school psychiatrist when I was in kindergarten.
Read this

Evel Knievel and Me

Impersonating your heroes hurts. Most of my worst injuries have occurred while riding two-wheeled vehicles, both with and without motors.
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Sex Education

This story isn’t nearly as racy as it sounds, but you should read it anyway. We all know what it’s like to know more than we need to know and then wish we didn’t.
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Fighting Michael Jackson

I wrote this long before the King of Pop’s sad passing at far too young an age, so don’t think it is exploitative in any way.
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Les Brers in A Minor

I have to admit, much of this is simply true, and it’s based on my relationship with my dear, departed friend John Myers. He was one of a kind, one of the most truly unique people I have ever known. He was sick for a long time and the last time we were together, he asked me to speak at his funeral when the time came. I could tell he had planned it out in typical Johnny fashion. As the very end of the service, the casket was closed and wheeled out with his widow and sons following while BB King’s “The Thrill is Gone” played. That was just like Johnny, and I miss him so.
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The Sound of Going Away

Other than appearing in Poor Mojo’s, a portion of this story was also published in Argus, May 13, 1983. Both are essentially outtakes from an early version of my novel, Blues for a Dime Store Guitar.
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Readers remember Johnny Cash

When Johnny Cash passed away, I wrote a little remembrance. I think there might be a short story buried in this incident, but I have yet to write it.
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I Shot Bambi’s Momma

This deer hunting tale is absolutely true. A highly fictionalized version of the event became part of “The Rut” in my short story collection, Life in the Cathode Ray Glow. 
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Vagabondage

This odd poem is also a short story I have yet to publish. It’s strange and not at all what I usually write, but it’s here!
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Beating down the Road

A narrative poem some have found depressing, this was an excuse to immortalize images from multiple late night drives to Point Lookout, Maryland, where I used to fish for blues from the beach.
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Invalid Geometry

An incident captured from a relationship I never should have been in, back when I was a young man completely lacking discretion.
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A Christmas Carol for Jim W.

I wrote this for a short story contest in the Washington Post. As I recall, a very limited number of words was required by the rules, so I saw it as a challenge. I lost, but found a home for it on the web. My wife and son, who graduated from the University of Delaware with a magna cum laude in English, really don’t like this little vignette and think it isn’t a good example of my writing. It’s here anyway.
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