Category Archives: Afternoons of an Author

From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Afternoon of an Author.” Stories and essays, fiction or nonfiction, I created during my long, broad afternoons.

Ragged Days

Only a specter, I stumbled into An abandoned amusement park, Over haunted relics, And the dizzying merry-go-round ride Of those ragged days: Through cobwebs of disenchantment I groped, to uncover Half buried in dust The scattered fragments Of a long-ago … Read more »

At the Shore

At the Shore By Samantha Mozart Small airplanes, awnings and a beach house Lounging on the upper wood deck Walking barefoot on the edge of the surf in the sun Rain A bridge lamp, a novel, and an Oriental rug … Read more »

Dewdrop Refractions: In the Wink of a Moment

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Indeed it is appreciation—to appreciate and to think critically about what we are doing before we lose what we have: I stood outside this morning with our blue teacup poodle, Jetta—blue, the poodle people say, because … Read more »

EVERGLADES CITY … or, The Idiot Who Wore Shorts

NAPLES, FLA., June 11, 1998 – Ten miles southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the heart of Naples, Florida, I passed the last strip mall and golf course and crossed through the last busy intersection where the highway narrowed … Read more »

Flight Over the Badlands

  FLIGHT OVER THE BADLANDS By Samantha Mozart We fly over windswept buttes Carved in antler patterns, visions of ghostly dancing winds; Semiarid, broadly roamed by herds of trees Rushing toward precipices of yellow, buckskin bluffs. Flat, brown land. Puffy … Read more »

The Great Gadabout

Dressed in his tuxedo, Boots, my next-door neighbor Cheryl’s big black and white cat, quite tall on hind legs, leans over the rim of the birdbath for a drink. He looks like a little man attending a jazz age party … Read more »