Author Adrienne Morris

May 24, 2022

A Civil War Envelope

First time I wore a corset I became a woman. Before that I was a person not at home for trying to be too many different things to too many people. I had felt responsible for the world’s destruction since I was five and put before the TV to watch crying Indians and baby seals […]

May 23, 2022

Stop Crying

Do you cry too much? My father used to reward me for staying in and being safe. As a police officer he coolly handled blood, insanity and anger, but he could not handle threats to his children. He could not handle the idea of them making mistakes or being shamed. His heart was in the […]

May 21, 2022

Flowers in the Window

Bring in those flowers and put them on the windowsill where you wash the dishes. You pass them every day, but you’re so busy and there will be new blooms tomorrow. My mother once said she felt sorry for flowers picked and put in a vase and didn’t need them. She said this because she […]

May 20, 2022

The Moon

Who are you in the dark when no one is looking? What is the magic moonlight of you that you keep covered in clouds of blue? Those dark places when shared make you more like the rest of us. Sometimes those flaws are the very things that lead you on your mission. Sometimes those flaws […]

May 19, 2022

Your Life on Canvas

How would you want your life to be depicted on canvas? Would your painting be a sedate and beautiful portrait, with lush carpets and Victorian drapery, small dogs panting on your lap? Would you want to find yourself in the vibrant energy of a Van Gogh? Or how about a military masterpiece with you leading […]

May 18, 2022

A Haunted House of Dreams

You are attached to a mystical tangle of ribbons–other people’s dreams and desires. A flirtation. A wedding. Children. A funeral. And all over again. With blue eyes running along one thread, alcoholism another. Love is tangled in there too. This is my 3x great grandfather’s house. I want to burrow into the collapse to find […]

May 17, 2022

A Stolen Tombstone

Why would a person steal from a cemetery? At my favorite family resting spot in the middle of nowhere someone stole the headstone of a Civil War soldier who died of disease before seeing battle. It was early in the war, so his body was sent home. A couple in Florida found the headstone in […]

May 16, 2022

Pray for the Dead?

Do you think it’s morbid to pray for the dead? Do you think they can pray for us? I accept that I may have an active imagination and we can’t know for sure if visiting cemeteries brings us closer to our loved ones, but I feel it can. I visited one of my Civil War […]

May 14, 2022

O Solitude!

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep,— Nature’s observatory—whence the dell, Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell, May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep ’Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap Startles the wild […]

May 13, 2022

“Here Lies One Whose Name Was Writ in Water” John Keats

Tall and handsome I didn’t love him for his poetry. I didn’t love him at all in a romantic way though he had a habit of sending love letters to everyone he thought beautiful. He’d sent one to me just after a bike ride along the glittering reservoir. We were friends because we’d known each […]