View January Handl's profile

Sisters 2025 by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

As I savor the feel Of the radiating warmth From the the flow of  Electricity that I often Take for granted   I think of the  Women of Palestine As they arise in the cold to labor each day As a rock in the river  Of genocide that sweeps away  Their children  Lovers, husbands, sons,…
Read More

Leggy poem by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Writer's Choice

/ Stories

I want a poem with legs To walk around this great big world, Striding over and into  Many places, cultures and times And Into the hearthstone of my  Beloved fellow travelers   I want a poem that can pour a cuppa And gently warm pairs of cold hands Offering comforts for  the anxious movements and…
Read More

2017. Apologizing to the World about Trump by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Travels

/ Stories

Poem
Read More

Our Garden by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By The Garden

/ Stories

Our Garden You, the ruthless pruner, who fears not the bend of limb and tearing of tissue Somehow reflect a greater faith in the Divine plan and the blooming of Life.   Me, the timid intruder, who observes and reveres the struggle to survive- Ever too aware of the pain and trials of growth and…
Read More

2020 in 3 acts by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Pandemic Summer

/ Stories

                                 1 Somehow I landed pet sitting/housesitting gig On my river Sweetest of elder dogs A month of easy income And re-focus on my own Life essence in the body Then the world shook With tremors at first Then waves…
Read More

Dream time by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Dreams

/ Stories

Awaken to the Dream Long before we are birthed to this life, to these bodies,  someone dreams us into existence. These ethereal threads that are woven throughout our life hold the patterns,  warp and weave of the holy meaning to our days and nights. When the sacred spinning, the endless calling that  finally finds voice…
Read More

Springtime Blossoming by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

Blossoming                    What are you doing, now? He asked me peering up with my line of sight. I am giving the wisteria a standing ovation! As he shakes his head my heart pulls toward admiring the purple tresses of the vine- so stunning, arresting in their  delicate…
Read More

Retiring Expectations by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Retirement

/ Stories

I’m a planner.  Like to have all  Potentialities acknowledged, Surveyed, and appropriate Responses in hand and heart.   So growing up I  Knew I was a teacher. The evolution of  Who I was teaching all  Neatly corralled in the Pen of possibility I  Keep stocked with vigilance   My storybook love With a soul mate,…
Read More

Anne by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

Anne She was a quiet girl, soft of face soft of movement, and her long brown hair often curtained her eyes so as to be soft of broadcasting feelings. Both of us were novitiates to the  buzzing tech-worshipping work world where we met. We hit it off, mostly  because at age 18,   we knew…
Read More

A Moving Poem by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Get Organized

/ Stories

So I am thinking… I need to look at everything in this house that holds 31 years of marriage and two grown children’s archives, and ask this 51 year old almost single self what do you need? Which books of 5 full book cases do you have to have near you? Which wall hanging/photos are…
Read More

General Store by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Shopping Local

/ Stories

General Store Sears and Roebuck The original Amazon The circles of  time-periscoping Evolution Of the landmarks of our Consumerist commitment— Beacons that guided Our travels Before GPS   White Front  To Gemco To Target   Rexall To Longs To CVS To Cannabis dispensary   Mr. Jordan’s corner tobacco/liquor  To 7-11 To million dollar condos  …
Read More

I-pad Magnet or My prayer for Millennials by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

My small screen Is a black hole That sucks me into The miasmic plasma Of hidden light, That both connects And separates me To and from others I sense the forever Yearning The existential hole Where we plug in Hoping to feel  An integrity  That constantly falls Apart, on its way To wholeness My tether…
Read More

Mother by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Earth Day

/ Stories

Mother Once a Native American man told me that if you lie face down  with head pointed north and feet pointed south the earth mother would accept any grief  in your heart                       cleansing you, freeing                   …
Read More

Releasing Roots by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Women We Admire

/ Stories

Releasing Roots I pull out Mama’s earrings From the tangle of jewelry In the re-used coconut butter jar, Gently pressing them  Into the ears that  She pierced with an icy potato And a thin-pained needle When I was 11 years old.  They were her favorites And though she taught me That earrings don’t have to…
Read More

My Mama by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Women We Admire

/ Stories

For my mama on her 67th Birthday My Mama taught me When I was 5 weeks old, my father was killed in a car accident, my mama tried not to be sad when she nursed me, so I would not be sad, my mama taught me: Today is the day- to laugh, to learn, to…
Read More

Freedom with a Roof by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By My First Apartment

/ Stories

Freedom with a Roof At age 18 in January of our Senior year in high school my boyfriend Mike and I were chomping at the bit to get out on our own. We both grew up in Santa Clara Valley as the orchards were starting to disappear. We both had jobs in the tech industry…
Read More

Strange Fall by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By New Beginnings

/ Stories

  Strange Fall Other years Autumn  Means  First the poison oak leaves flame a brilliant red,  while the mountain maple blazes yellow. Usually the thrumming cricket chorus thins to a few hardy soloists when the morning and evening’s chill  signals winter’s shadow  hiding around the slipping sunshine. This year the talk of drought and global…
Read More

Re-Gifting by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Gifts

/ Stories

The Re-gift      I first met Nicki while moving in across the way from her house. Our children were both ready to launch from the nest, and my family was realizing a long held dream of relocating into the mountains. We loved that the house was at the end of a dirt road with…
Read More

After 20 Minutes of Solo Estatic Dancing on My Living Room Floor by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Gifts

/ Stories

  I have been given such gifts words choke in my throat as I reach, I stretch, bend and shake toward expressing the utter astonishment the deep wonder the overpowering gratitude at this moment I am  awake
Read More

Baby Girl by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

Baby Girl Downstairs in the open loft apartment, I hear above me my daughter and her husband and my new grandbaby  having one of those rapturous conversations that involve  cooing and squeaks soft-voiced tender words and, sweet giggles and chuckles that wrap the love  of the deep presence with and around  this moment. That Alive, …
Read More

Grampa’s Hands by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

Grampa’s hands      Grampa had sparkly brown eyes that simply shone when he told stories about his postal delivery days, or launched into a dramatic recitation of a favorite poem. He had a full head of hair that he kept neatly trimmed, and he dressed as dapper gentle men of his day did-  never…
Read More

Eating History (Or No one Makes it Like Mom). by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By What We Ate

/ Stories

  My father grew up in a Irish-catholic family of 9, In the city of San Francisco, so his comfort food was usually canned- he would say “creamy” and I would say “mushy.” Later, I would barely recognize the diarrhea green spinach, the small skinless egg potatoes, the orangish spaghetti-Os and pungent Dinty-Moore stew that…
Read More

Co-creation by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Parenthood

/ Stories

    Co-creation   My children birthed me many times through our time together; we have labored over Our relationship Our independence Our interlocked destinies.   We have adventured as “family,” fought as friends do, with our least selves held in honor at some core level, while our higher selves offered bridges of joy and…
Read More

Third Grade Move by
25
(30 Stories)

/ Stories

Third Grade Move   We were late. I was horrified. The kind of fist-in-the-stomach tense that had tears trying to find their way out the burning rims of my eyes. I kept blinking, as we hurried toward the numbered door. Our new home’s construction was delayed and so this September day we had to cross…
Read More

Revising the Editor by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Something Wild

/ Stories

Revising the editor Limits, rules, restrictions, guidelines, walls, trigger my auto-response of arising fierce Kali-spirit that demands the shaking off of the yoke burdening my shoulders, spitting out the bit between my teeth, severing the ball and chain cutting into my ankle, and pulling the barbed wire from around my throat, to run wildly into…
Read More

The Edge of Aging by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Those We Miss

/ Stories

I keep stumbling over The edge of aging This wrinkled hand This creaking hinge This blank spot In the file cabinet That held the treasures And torments of a life A story That is still unfolding With a few missing Pieces   But relentless ticking And the sounding chimes Of a heedless clock A blur…
Read More

Prom Night Memories by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Prom

/ Stories

My soulmate/boyfriend/future husband and father of my future children worked on me with words until I willingly released the traditions of high school to embrace the rebellion of making different choices.   Despite the Gunny-sax hippy dress that was the uniform of proms in those days, that I had shopped with mom and best friend…
Read More

Moving Poem by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By The Things I Keep

/ Stories

So I am thinking…   I need to look at everything in this house that holds 31 years of marriage and two grown children’s archives, and ask this 51 year old almost single self what do you need? Which books of 5 full book cases do you have to have near you? Which wall hanging/photos…
Read More

Without a Word by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Pets

/ Stories

Without A Word   Warm muzzle Cold nose Contented purr Protective bark Joyous wag Tempted twitch Raised eyebrow Leaned into leg Animal aromas Soft fur comfort Welcoming greeting Apprehensive parting Soundless song Intertwined with mine     Constant companionship Chores of service Enigmatic puzzles Bewildered apology Comic curiosity Demandless conversation Provocation of patience Eager pleasing…
Read More

Turning Point by
25
(30 Stories)

Prompted By Faith

/ Stories

“I don’t know what you have experienced to make you “know” but I haven’t, so don’t give me that crap!” My husband was expressing his dismay over my encouragement to keep his heart open to the love that surrounded him, and to remember that the door to his heart opens from the inside. He is…
Read More