Author Archives: Sean Gallagher

General Chaos

Rib night!

Last night, the whole family went to Bill Bateman's Bistro in Towson for Rib Night. As the night progressed, and we stripped our racks clean, the soundtrack of the evening started to seep into my conciousness. It was like someone had uncovered my high-school-freshman record collection from 1978 and produced a mix tape….the playlist sticks in my brain like a splinter.

Pink Floyd's Pigs.
Bowie's Ziggy Stardust
Edgar Winter's Frankenstein
Fleetwood Mac's Tusk
Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Journey's “Wheel in the Sky”

While my adolescence flashed across my ears, we shifted into the game room where my sons demonstrated their pool skills. If “Werewolves of London” had come on at that moment, I would have known someone was playing with my mind…

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General Chaos, Headline Haiku

It's dark at five o'clock
the rain is washing away the leaves
another season flushed into oblivion
leaving piles of flotsam and regret

The sky is grey at eight a.m.
tinting memories of Saturday's sun
with a mask of autumnal finality
I hate Standard Time.

But there's nothing as beautiful
as a child on a leaf-strewn trail
beneath a canopy of maroon and gold
with holes of cold, crisp blue

And there's nothing quite as sweet
as grabbing that moment of mortality
It's fall, it's harvest time
and you're reaping the fruits of summer memory

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