Big Al
Project

My love for birdwatching found me in the impoverished neighborhood of Warrendale, West Detroit. I Ubered to Rouge Park, a local birding spot. My reddit research foretold of a colony of Great Blue Herons, and I, came for the gold rush. Surrounded by trailer parks and abandoned homes, I asked my driver if I would be safe here. He hesitated, and responding distractedly, “You will be fine. Just mind your own business.” The conversation fell to weather, and in his distracted tone

The fear of death is killing you. It flies under no radar and the number game has collapsed. Airplanes are the safest in history, yet they are cracking down on the “intoxicated” passengers for the “safety for the plane”. Freedom verses safety, you pick. Safety hangs low on the branches of the society tree, and us smooth brained plebians gobble it up. We are suffocating under the flag of safety, which has completely eclipsed the freedom banner. The middle class is dying; old m

The old man was kicked to the curb. Stomped out on the streets of Portland, he takes his final stand on 23rd Avenue, out front of Barista Fine Coffee. All bathrooms are off limits, so the smell of urine and grime is profuse. No matter, he will be treated like a used tissue all the same. Except we acknowledge a used tissue. In complete coherence he yells “Can someone please help, someone help me please!” A victim of crippling medical debt and no family. Maybe in the thicket of

There is no mercy in food poisoning. The street meat beat down hits home, lights out, I am now considering the suicide option. Do I have the cajónes to keep moving forward? One sock, two sock, despair. Tetris blocks falling round, there is no cohesive option. My flight is in three hours, this is very bad. I lunge for the cool stainless-steel bowl and hurl out my dinner’s final stand. Not much left, I’m on the ropes. Punch in, punch out. I feel much better, but this calm state

My long weekend ends in skiing down Middle Sister, following the two days of Smith Rock. I'm tired and don't know what to write, so here is a cover letter of a bird counting job I applied for. Better luck next year. In a single serendipitous stroke, I stumbled upon this job opportunity. Just today during my post-work kayak tour, I was lucky enough to spot a Great Horned Owl, as well as a great number of Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Corm

A whimsical day in the mountains, a ski tour delight! Arc’teryx will keep you dry and an 800-fill down puffy maintains perfect bodily homeostasis. A low angle tour of Artisan point, top of Palmer, or a local groomer keeps you fit, happy, and safe. Ski touring is all fun and games, until those little voices start. They don’t bounce among all craniums, but if you hear them, they can’t be shaken. A little farther, ignore the pain, satisfy the itch. No road is faster to hell, no

Six hours ago I bagged Mount Adams, skiing down 7500 feet of volcanic vertical. Now home behind the keys, I am in the valley of death. The brain storm tonight is dark and gloomy, passing more judgements than thoughts. I’m happy she moved on, I never will. I never do. The old game of cat and mouse and I am the mouse. The cat’s whiskers tingle down my spine. My small, fragile spine. It would take nothing to break it. I swing for the stars, running in circles, just to return to

I retreat to the bottom of my lonely milkshake. The straw and I probe for the sickening sweet feeling of certainty. Long gone empty, we wilt under the weight of regret. How the rush had filled our emptiness within, how it left us nothing but sorrow. A second milk shake, one more time. Oreo cookie, classic vanilla, strawberry cheesecake, they are all the same. I weep as they tip the shake upside down. I cry for them, I cry for me. Sometimes this makes me feel better. They mus

Of all the dry spots, I sat in the puddle. I didn’t want my jeans sticking to my ass for the next hour, but through the tunnel all I could see on the other side was the corner. There just happened to be a puddle on the edge of this picnic bench. I chose to die on this hill a long time ago. Growing up, I never frolicked with the other boys. Daydreams drifting from wallball to hopscotch, but alas, I was in my own obit. I never had the courage to break this matter of course, reg

One year ago, I had it. Flipping the hourglass, it was like deja vu all over again. Eat, ski, work, repeat. I was surrounded by fractions of men, tar oozing from all orifices, trudging down the long road ahead. I was not to become a La Brea mammoth, frozen in time for all to laugh at. I decided to think for myself, by myself. Who do I wish I was, and what would he be doing? A writer, and he would be writing. I am a hopeless romantic and the most uncommon, what a pity. I put m

Stop signs (all six!), college ruled, single spaced. Concrete, filled with unwavering rebar, nobody gets through. How do you know? The whimsy of today blotted out by the demands of tomorrow. Who do you answer to, the royal lineage? Light streams into our cage, faithful guiding bands. Lined up in front of the prison bars. You crossed the line! This is my lifeline! I’m at the end of my line! Now in a single filed line I ask you, where did this ever get anybody? You know where.

I am surrounded by Savannah on all sides, since when? The bachelor beach party went accordingly, the boy’s war on Bush Light and Chatham County ended in triumph. I was on my way back from Tybee Island to catch the Greyhound when I was intercepted by the gauntlet. Ambushed by my friends, was quietly slipped a small square of paper. It is only 10 am, but you know how these things happen. Next, a round of Irish car bomb at Sorry Charlie’s. You know what is next. Whisky shots. Oy

The hardest part is dreaming. The pigs wallow in the mud and invite you in. You are splashed with mud, and the pigs insist you are one of them. The filth! Is it possible? I look back at the field of muck and indistinguishable lards, with snouts made for pillaging the earth. Squeals of insecurity. Fat and comfortable, they consume any morsel within rolling distance. They fuck anything that moves. Violent undertones rumble from the sty, they feel resistance. I have nothing aga

I don’t actually hate Tybee Island, just what I become. More, I fear him. Five in the morning, stuffing face with Hawaiian rolls and baked beans. We should sleep soon. Rolling off the couch tomorrow afternoon, I lost roughly 24 hours of my life to a bottle of Rumple Mintz. On a matter of pride, we tether ourselves to chaos. The beach ants here suck down bottomless mimosas damn fast. Watch out in the stomping ground. Everyone is alone on this empty island, dari

I have been left behind. Behind what? It looms ahead, terrible and unforgiving. Like in the dream, I dare not approach IT. No further than my shadow, but twice as fast. Like when you AND the light move, but more. More elusive. So much so, possibly doesn’t exists. Does God? Big Foot? Not fair you say. Okay, how about money? You? Be real now. You don’t follow? You have been left behind. Damn, it happens all the time. The carrot looks swell, does it not? Look ca

I was loaded, but nothing in comparison to my driver. He was coloring outside the lines, drink in one hand, and shifter in the other. I removed my seatbelt and took a big swig from my caguama, I saw no point. Cars were passed, blind corners tested. At the apex of the slightest bend, he would stomp the gas. The man driving went by Tio, as in uncle, to my friend, who brought me here. Why did I trust this man? Our last and only encounter was when I arrived to Morelia, Tio picked

In anxious anguish my eyes burn holes through the ceiling above my bed. The tunnel of my vision penetrates far beyond this cursed town in which I am hostage. From anything of remote resemblance to myself I run, but in folly I trip over my own roots. They rip through the damp stagnate earth, taking control of my momentary lapse. I smile in the glorious release of suffocation. I am dragged from the peak of my delusion, forced into compliance, stomped on by mankind, and laughed

I am writing to the void inside of me. I scoff at the depths of dread, as if everything will go away. But the conflict must be addressed, now or later. Better now. I have spent many years running from the sands of time, but I find my step goes no further than my very first. I am nowhere but here, nothing but exhausted. Running in fear, fear in running, fear in fear. Every step I make, what do you take? I recognize this obvious fact and stop. Insanity would pursue with continu

I’m ever so tired, and the car did not break. They never do. As I lock eyes with the driver, the engine screams in excitement. Objects in motion stay in motion, unless the miserable bastard wises up. Why tip the domino? But he does and we suffer forever after. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Rolling on the ground, laughter on all sides. Maybe I am laughing at how I bounced off the hood, an impact that would have knocked the lights of any deer. Or maybe I am laughing at the ne

Me, a feral chicken? I can see you have been wiping your ass with that mouth. Are you calling me a liar? I am left with no choice; I throw down the gauntlet. I challenge you to a Big Bird Year, you grouch. The remainder of 2026 shall be spent in observation of our flighty little friends. The winner shall be determined by the longest species list on eBird. I don’t give a hoot if you saw a rare snow goose earlier this year, he was as lost as you are. We are starting fresh, Febr