Opportunity for New Discussion, by Stacey Murphy

the clematis

too neighborly

to understand

the wooden fence

nature has no choice

but to persist

the vines using knotholes

and the weeds placing seeds

in the cracks of stone walls

sometimes we humans

prefer to resist

we pull back the branches

of rude plants that intrude

avoiding conflict — so human

where plants instead

see opportunity

for new discussion

Do Everything I Say, by Annie Wexler

"Do everything I say," says Judy Moore, my best friend who lives next door to me in our little town in rural New Jersey. We are both seven and it is almost Christmas, and snowing.

"I will be baby Jesus and lie here on this blanket which is my bed of straw in the manger. Now you start by looking up at the stars and wandering."

"But it’s morning," I say, "there are no stars."

"Well then, just wander."

"Where do I wander to?" I ask.

"Just walk to that big pine tree and then come back and bow down and kiss my feet."

"But you’re wearing boots."

"Well then just touch my feet and give me presents."

She’s getting very bossy.

"What kind of presents?" I ask.

"You’re the wisemen," she says, "you have to know."

So I touch her feet and then give her a bunch of red berries from the holly bush and two big pinecones.

"Now tell me I am God," she says, "and then I’ll get up."

"But you’re not God," I insist. "God is up in the sky."

"Well then I’m God’s son."

"But God can’t have a son, he isn’t married."

"He does have a son and I learned that in catechism, so there."

"Okay," I say. "But now get up, it’s my turn to be baby Jesus."

"You can’t be baby Jesus," she says, "because you’re Jewish and the Jews killed Jesus."

I run home crying, and my mother says it’s not true and not to pay attention to Judy.

"But I want to go to catechism," I whine, "so I can play baby Jesus and get presents."

Not long after that we left our wonderful house in the country and moved to a suburb with a large Jewish population. Suburban life wasn’t nearly as much fun as playing in the woods and running in the fields. No one ever asked me to play baby Jesus again. I missed my friend Judy for years and years.

Eleven Shorties — "Memoirlets" — by Saskya van Nouhuys

Gym class
While playing volleyball in high school I collided with a giant Samoan girl. As I ricocheted off her and landed in the grass outside the court I thought with excitement: Wow, I didn’t know a person’s body could be that solid!

High heels
I winced in pain with each step walking back to the hotel, late, after a grand dinner with the king of Sweden. I stopped in the rain to take off my high-heeled shoes. My companion gallantly took them in hand and strode forward tipsily. I walked barefoot the rest of the way through the city, feeling like a princess.

Honeymoon
Andy and I rode a quadracycle, which is a four wheeled tandem bicycle, around Cayuga lake for our honeymoon. That was by far the most married thing we have ever done.

Humming
From a distance, it is hard to tell the difference between a baby hummingbird and a bumble bee.

Music lessons
That creepy piano teacher. I had to break my arm twice before my mother gave up on making me go to his house each week for lessons.

Neighbor
Our yard, our neighbor's yard, our other neighbor's yard, all united as the territory of our patrolling cat.

Pajamas
My favorite nightshirt eventually wore out and started to disintegrate. Before it lost all of its integrity Andy used it as a model to sew a new one. I wear that new one, but it isn’t the same.

Paper
As time passes we all use paper less and less. Now, as the weather gets cold, I have to plan ahead in order to have enough material to start a fire each day.

Pencil
Can anyone think of a number 2 pencil without getting anxious?

Pipe
My grandfather sits in a chair with his pipe in one hand and a can of beer in the other. I sit in his lap, happily, listening inattentively to the conversation of adults.

Purple
On the tiny island of Prestö there are three cemeteries filled with the bones of people who died in the process of building the Russian fortress at Bomarsund, in Finland. The fortress was destroyed by the English even before it was finished. They shot cannons up at it from ships in the bay below. The three cemeteries are populated by the Russian Orthodox Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims. The best blueberries grow among the discretely marked graves in the Muslim cemetery.