Author: Sam McManus

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a book reading

Author bucket list item achieved: I had my first book reading on Saturday, and I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Sure, I had been to dozens of them, where someone else sat or stood in the front of the room, reading their work to us, the enraptured audience. So, in that way I guess … Continue reading a book reading

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Baggage

If this is the last time for trivialities, then let me know Cover me in couched cliches So I can reap what I’ve sown Clear my cluttered schedule of everything I’ve owned Pack me in a battered case Leave me to my misery because that’s how I’ve grown in this gathering twilight I’ve saved up … Continue reading Baggage

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disconnected

I went out early this morning, on a shopping trip. I don’t do too many of those these days, for obvious reasons, but we needed some items, and as long as it’s early enough I don’t feel as anxious due to the smaller number of people within my personal range. Target was first, which was … Continue reading disconnected

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expecting nothing

I have very few expectations out of life. Well, out of general life anyway. I used to have these pie-in-the-sky yearnings that were never going to come true, that were destined to disappoint me, but I dreamed anyway. I remember everyone telling me the sky was the limit, but then I kept thinking of how … Continue reading expecting nothing

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we kept singing

The ferry hit the dock softly, but its music was loud, as if to shut out all argument about its purpose for being there. “A long December, and there’s reason to believe… maybe this year will be better than the last.” We sang along as we boarded, tickets in hand, shirts proclaiming our allegiance, because … Continue reading we kept singing

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settling

They met online, but that was only the setting. It could have happened anywhere—a bar, a club, a finishing school, a Turkish bath. It was going to happen somehow, somewhere, but it happened online. She was fresh from finally leaving Leon, after years of saying she would; he was startlingly single, though the women in … Continue reading settling