Miller Time

UNITED STATES—I’m keeping my eyes on my clothes tumbling in the laundromat dryer. What do you think about separating clothes? I really don’t believe in segregation for fabrics unless there’s one T-shirt that’s bleeding all over the place and will make your whites look like they were marinated in iodine. What’s with that, China? Me, Giselle, would like to...

UNITED STATES—I wouldn’t make a very good politician. I leave shambles, wars and broken hearts wherever I go. It must be my big mouth. Anyhow, nothing bugs me as much as people who are time vampires. There may be somebody I really like but if they get off track on the phone and tell me about the wart on their...

UNITED STATES—I am in the Goldwyn Branch of the public library and I am missing something: my first national appearance on TV. In six minutes there is going to air an awards show, using the arrival of a famous emcee, facing a series of obstacles before reaching the stage, a paparazzi, an autograph hound, and me, a mop-wielding janitor. Handling...

UNITED STATES—Lovely event at the library in Echo Park last Friday. The poet Patricio Maya gave the first of three Friday talks devoted to his poetic influences. The endearing Borges, the Whitmanesque Pablo Neruda were featured, and I got to read a couple translations, as well. So we left the event walking on a cloud, taking some pictures with the...

UNITED STATES—Wherever you turn in the City of Angels, there are words to turn things around, bright words, trite, words, wise words. They may effervesce for only a moment, but they serve us to get to the next moment. There, the inspiring words are embossed on coffee cups, on bumper stickers, or held in place by souvenir magnets. This is...

UNITED STATES—One can be deceptively in awe of other nationalities when one belongs to the ink trade. They seem to have established more reliable means for distinguished writers to be distinguished. In Latin America one can become a diplomat (Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda). In England, for instance, quite a few have gotten into intelligence, such as Ian Fleming,...

UNITED STATES—The exact time becomes vitally important when there is a criminal element involved. So it was around 1:30 a.m., last Thursday night. I was up at my computer, and my dog could not grasp the idea of me at a computer instead of being asleep. He whined and growled. He clawed my arms, the cutest dog in Hollywood...

UNITED STATES—Both are born in 1892. Ernst is being groomed to enter the family tailoring business. Max is bitten by the stage, though it’s unclear his enthusiasm rubbed off on Ernst, or the love of drama was something both Ernst and Max carried already and bounced off each other. The two had been childhood playmates and then they becaome...

UNITED STATES—I am in the final stages of a major novel, my first, and both my bonds with teaching are eroding and emotional tensions are mounting. I am under great tension albeit, creative tension, which is very good, sort of like good cholesterol is good. But this makes me prone to uncharacteristic outbursts and sudden tenderness, at the most...

UNITED STATES—Denise took a deep breath and faced her husband’s letter. The brief pause was quite enough for her daughter, Antoinette, to get her nose in her phone and check in on her media. “You didn’t post anything about this. Heaven knows we aren’t supposed to be reading this. It’s marked only ‘in the event of my death.’ And Jerry...