C.K. Dexter Haven
- Title
- Person
- Bio
- I write. I read. I work. I eat. I live in a house. I sleep. I wake with the thought of coffee.
I like makers and doers. I like thinkers who write. I like makers who think and doers who write. People who make/think/write/do but who also dance/laugh/play/falter are my favorite kind of people.
I'm pretty down with life being messy. It explains a lot when all the stars don't align. I believe in Random. Random explains a lot too. Like, why good things happen to Dick Cheney and bad things happen to real human beings. Please don't write "everyday" when you mean "every day." I have a doggy crate full of grammar peeves, and that's one of them. Please also don't tell me it's colloquial and now acceptable to use "their" instead of "his" or "her." It might be true, but I'm not yet ready to accept it.
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “The mind, she is
boggled.”
4:14PM - “It's a small world,
common connections...
coincidence? I
think good
people find e…”
2:08PM - “A little ignorance and
fear goes a long way in
reversing or
impeding hard won
rep…”
1:59PM - “(Oh, and I know it's not
"Sparkling"... but there's
something
golden
an…”
March 11, 2010 08:45AM - “Oh, how am I supposed to
leave a comment worthy of
this
gorgeous writing? Just
ha…”
March 11, 2010 08:40AM
C.K. Dexter Haven's Links
- New list
- No links in this category.
A Speck of Interstellar Dust
When my mother-in-law, Eleanor, walked into the funeral home chapel on the arms of relatives, my children rushed to greet her. And, despite how I had tried to prepare them for what Alzheimer's had taken away, they were soon in tears. She didn't know them.
Eleanor and I… Read full post »
Gigging for Grub: Family Fondue Circa 1974
There's the table. A large, scratched mahogany relic. It's imperfections covered with foldable felt-bottom pads and a polyester tablecloth. My mother believes in polyester and acts on that faith by investing in an assortment of double knit pantsuits.
There's my mother. Pant-suited and standing a… Read full post »
Friday Wrap-Up: Aah-Choo! (Allergic to Cats)

Okay, this cutie might just piss me off with her competing tiaraed adorableness. Julie Tarp may have just inspired the sport of toddler wrasslin'. Damn smiley little dumpling cheeks!
Hells Bells! Whadya do to the nice lady with the pie all over her face?
Blah-blah… Read full post »
Some Things Never Change

But, I Want A Daddy
They are watching a winter soccer game in an inflatable dome. It's cold in there. He is sitting next to Annelies, my daughter. They are happy being there, next to each other... and he slips his arm behind her back and across her shoulder...
"Get your dirty hands off m… Read full post »
Dear Writer: I'm Reading for The Thing
I scan it, noting ev'ry jot and tittle.
Oh — go ahead! Laugh at tittle;
it’s titillating! Not really, not
etymologically. Big word.
Big effing OED-type word.
Just don't get it confused with
the one about bugs, that's just
creepy — and crawly. Good lordy!
&nbs… Read full post »
Of Tinks and Tinkerers in the Cathedral of Junk
It was not really a light; it made this light by flashing about so quickly, but when it came to rest for a second you saw it was a fairy, no longer than your hand, but still growing. It was a girl called Tinker Bell exquisitely gowned in… Read full post »

I'm in the groovy-natural section of the grocery store. I'm holding a bottle of wild caught, small fish oil capsules, and squinting at the label on the Awahupi Volumizing Condtioner for fine, limp hair. I don't know what awahupi is, but it promises me volume.
To my left, a… Read full post »
On Trust
When it is gone, every door is ominous, filled
with familiar strangers, knowing secrets, having
your heart before you give it; holding it ransom
with your past failures and future desires.
Do you get it back? Can you give it again? Used,
worn, smeared with fingerprints, grease stains,

This is a picture of my desk. I don't put it here to brag, though it is highly brag-worthy. This desk is made by my husband. I put it here to remind me of all the years that came before and all the years that have followed. I put it… Read full post »
"C.K. Dexter Haven, You Have Unsuspected Depth!"
In and Out of Control with the Computer Camera
I hate being photographed. For those of you who share this discomfort, I know you get it without me having to describe it. For those who try to take my picture, I've tried to explain, but somehow it only gets translated as me being difficult.
When someone tries to take… Read full post »
An Auburn Feather and an Electric Blue Sky

THE POST FROM KAPU
For months now, since the new year,
beyond Valentine’s Day and the Fourth of July,
I’ve waited for an airmail missive or padded envelope,
leaking sand and rattling with jungle wood;
or maybe an express box, stuffe
… Read full post »Come In The Door And Don't Break The Tree!
This is going to be short and sweet...
Today I sat through an overly long meeting (four hours!), got two phone songs from my dear Joan, delivered a few gifts around campus, tied up loose ends, hugged my friend who starts her sabbatical tomorrow, watered my plants, and drove home… Read full post »
For WSFTC (and others): Gingerbreadz and a Doorstop
This big glop of sugariness is for Will Someone Feed The Cat, for all of her awesomeness. She does something really generous and gorgeous for all of us every week, something we can point to when newcomers dip their toes in the OS pond, something we can refer to when we're… Read full post »
The Book Of Joan: Biographical Notes, With Love (UPDATED)
It's been coming for years, then semesters, then months, then weeks. Pretty soon it will be days, and then my friend, Joan, will retire. And already my eyes are welling up, so I'm not sure how I'm going to finish writing this. But I will do my best, with humor, because… Read full post »
Framing Whatsmas (UPDATE: Your Stories and CAKE!)

In my last post I invited you all to create something, using the above picture as inspiration. Thanks to all who have played along thus far. If you want to send me a story, picture, poem, video, or whatever, just PM me and I'll add it to… Read full post »
Framing a Christmas Image: A Pre-Ramble & Writing Invitation

My Pre-Ramble
Last night I took this photo out of its frame and scanned the image to my computer, hoping it would inspire me to write something about being one of the kids in this scene. I struggle with Christmas. I struggle with expectations, both real… Read full post »
If I Had New Birds
If I still owned prayers, I would toss those white doves into the wind,
believing in their flight and its purpose.
If I still had a cage full of cooing, flapping faith, I'd unhook the latch
to release the worry-jostled creatures of my imagination.
If I still… Read full post »
Watching and Waiting
swigging from your stainless water bottle,
all seventeen in yourself, I yelled
Three months into being, they wheeled you away, down
a corridor, and I watched the scrub suits huddle around
your body, nothing serious,… Read full post »
For LunchLady2 and Suzie: Stand by Me
Ten-ish Things for which I'm Grateful
1. There's a kid draped across my lap. He's wearing a thermal shirt imprinted with dinosaurs. His mohawk has turned fauxhawk in anticipation of the snow. He smells like a puppy, but sheds less. His name is Sebastian.
2. There are four big kids, all but one taller than I. One just… Read full post »
Live-Blog Reading the Harper's Index
Thank You, Beautiful Young Men and Women

Letters to My Sister
My sister, Norma, moved out of the house and clear across the country in the fall of 1973, just after she turned eighteen. Her departure was abrupt. At least it felt abrupt to those of us she left behind. But, from more than thirty years of hindsight, it seems probable that… Read full post »

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