My cat sniffs his new building in Manhattan, reading it like a newspaper. Smell is the sense that cats need most to feel secure. His whole body trembles on our front porch at the intensity of sirens, thunderstorms, garbage and icecream trucks. He only stops shaking when we cover one or two of his ears, […]
Compositions
The Mouse & the Taniwha
I hadn’t thought about taniwha in decades, until a couple of months ago when I was working in New York City. When I was young my grandmother shared Māori stories of taniwha with me, and I only realized recently that a Māori bone carving pendant I inherited from her is a taniwha. Taniwha are protectors […]
Black Teeth
Many of us are tossing up our lives during the pandemic. Sometimes as a fantasy of “what-if”. Other times literally moving households, jobs, and relationships, or passing from this world entirely. We might move towards old haunts and old loves, and that comes with its own ghosts and baggage. And so, alongside a life-long fascination with […]
