Tag Archives: Bob Thurber

BOB THURBER: A Poet Laureate’s Death (3/15/19)

March 25, 2019Artistic, Poetry, SubmissionsBob Thurber, poem, poet, tributeTim

William Stanley Merwin passed away earlier today

and tonight there is something seriously wrong with the sky.

The moon is misaligned, hung crookedly low, a cockeyed smile

and all around there’s something the matter with the stars,

those that shine, those that hide, and those that blink like signal flares.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, though legally blind, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: Classic Two-handed Shove

March 5, 2019Adventure, Amusing, SubmissionsBob Thurber, funny, Hansel and Gretel, twist, witchTim

Instead of returning home like a normal person the old witch blew the door off the hinges,
cackling as she swung her cloak, wafting the cape while twisting about.
But on this night the boy was ready, and the girl was ready,
their tripwire taut, the oven door wide open.

BOB THURBER: End of the Hike

January 31, 2019Submissions, TouchingBob Thurber, child, loss, parentTim

At the edge of the woodlands we came upon a group in a field.

We took turns spying with the binoculars. No one said anything.

When it was my turn I saw the casket was unusually small.

There were three women and any of them could have been the mother.

BOB THURBER: Season Greetings And Untimely Departures

December 25, 2018Submissions, Top Stories, TouchingBob Thurber, Christmas, family, heartache, lossTim

Every Christmas has unique vibrations.

2010 was tremulous.

Our grandchildren were three and four. They didn’t know their mother was dead.

I imagine they held to the hope she’d surprise them with a last-minute appearance.

There was more chance a fat man in a sleigh would land on the roof.

BOB THURBER: Dead Stonemason In A Mayonnaise Jar

December 4, 2018Artistic, SubmissionsBob Thurber, family, life, love, rememberingTim

Every summer we haul grandpa’s ashes down to the beach and listen to the crashing surf.

The roar reminds us of grandpa’s grumbling groans after a long day’s work.

When the tide recedes, the shoreline resembles a long stretch of freshly poured cement, waiting to be troweled, skimmed perfectly smooth.

BOB THURBER: Dizzy Spells

November 7, 2018Amusing, Submissions, Top Stories, Touchingaging, Bob Thurber, child, dementia, parentTim

My father called from somewhere.

He needed to sign some important documents and he’d forgotten his name again.

I asked where he was, I asked where he’d been.

I asked if he was alright, if he was wearing shoes and clothes.

He said, Just spell my name for me, son.

BOB THURBER: Crossed Lines and Broken Vows

October 18, 2018Artistic, SubmissionsBob Thurber, choices, emotional commitment, relationships, too much in commonTim

We’d met in group, where we’d learned how to support one another, how to listen and comfort with gentle words.

We often chatted by phone about our spouses. Eventually we discovered we were practically neighbors.

Lenore’s house is just a short walk over the town line. Technically we’re adulterers now.

BOB THURBER: The Summer of Sweet Mary (circa 1972)

September 17, 2018Artistic, Submissions, Top Storiesart, beauty, Bob Thurber, religion, secular, soulTim

That summer the churches stopped selling religion.
You had to know a guy who knew a guy.
I was living by the ocean with a sea captain’s daughter.
He brought home boxes of the stuff.
We shared holy communion. We wept through miracles.
Her and me. Us and the sea.

BOB THURBER: The Appliance Guy Wonders Who Delivered The Chair

September 3, 2018SubmissionsBob Thurber, furniture, loss, sightTim

We were hugging in her kitchen beside her new stove and refrigerator
and I could see down the hall to the dining room
and beyond to the den where her blind husband was sitting in an electric powered recliner,
a contraption like something NASA produces for space missions to Mars.

Bob Thurber is the author of “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel” and two collections of stories. A celebrated master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in 60 anthologies, received dozens of awards, and been used in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts where, despite severe vision loss, he continues to write every day. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

BOB THURBER: The Eyelid Artist

August 10, 2018Artistic, SubmissionsBob Thurber, child, dreams, family, love, memories, relationshipsTim

(For Trey, with everlasting love)

The last time the boy slept at grandma’s house he told her that portraits of her face had been painted on the inside of his eyelids, so that’s what he got to look at every night while he waited to fall asleep. He pinched finger to thumb. “Brush this big.”