She was rich in spirit, but mainly just rich.

Auction Highlights: Aside from a significant amount of water damage, bullet holes and general wear, the painting is not of particular interest.

Dry leaves clatter across the driveway. School supplies. Football. Death.

It was a period in history when, for whatever reason, people by default ended up in Portland.

This year there was no tree; no lights; no gifts; no family; no steamed cranberry pudding with hard sauce. What remained of our holiday spirit was the annual Christmas weed for the guys on the trash truck. You never want to piss them off.

The sole perspective that I may have, that you may not have, in your privileged existence, is of time.

If you make the mistake of asking him something, his eyes glaze over and his mouth twitches into the private smile of a predator who’s just found his victim. Well, he says, that’s an interesting question. In the endless pause that follows, you think, oh shit, we’re in for it now.

2. Start over.

The trail of wreckage he left in his wake conformed precisely to the contours of his inner damage.

I can just picture you giving a TED talk, pacing the stage in one of those fucking headphone getups, starting each sentence with the word “so,” thinking it makes you less of an asshole.

Each sleepless night between the hours of 2 and 5 you traverse a vast region where your failings are laid bare under the moon’s implacable light.

He told me that he didn’t much care what he did during the day as long as he could drink at the end of it.