The Melancholy of Moving Back to the Desert

A grown man shouldn’t need to return
to the land of his childhood

tummy-showing and barefoot.

You should live where mountains and water
compliment your dual ascendant, the one

reaching for high mountain lakes; the other
the depth of ocean.

My patio fountain in the Sonoran Desert,
like a mockingbird, its trickling water incessant—

a waterboard.

The best change comes slowly
like summer, when Sun forces burnt skin

into action.

Even flies know when to leave.

I’ll wait to see if my wife packs for two.

Why Kids Need to Dig in the Dirt Again

What I Learned About Freedom and Imagination, in an Era Before the Screens Took Over

Kids today have it all, it seems, except time to be themselves. Their lives are so intensely choreographed from one activity to the next, and their scarce downtime so consumed …

Paddling the Wailoa River in a Homemade Canoe

A Boy’s Life on Hawaii’s Big Island in the 1950s

A boy’s life on Hawaii’s Big Island in the 1950s revolved around water. My elementary school in Hilo was right by Bakers Beach, a spring-fed pond called Ice Pond, and …