Jim Stitzel
Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of WordsExcerpts from Life
Sitting Trataka
The candle flame dances before my eyes, moving to unseen but noticeable currents in the air. The room around me is dark, so the only light is from the candle before me. I am focused on that light, on that flame, and I sit with it in meditation. I can feel the energy...
A Brief Reflection on Being an Atheist
I’ve been an atheist for probably 15 or more years now. Quietly. Secretly. Covertly. For most of that time, I kept quiet about my unbelief because I was still immersed in a Christian culture. I was married to a Christian woman. We went to church every Sunday. My...
This Moment
Flying down a back county road, the sun on my right but also just ahead because it's shining through both the passenger window and the top, right corner of the windshield. The light is not quite in my eyes, but it will be the moment I take a turn that puts me more...
Fiction
Stormy Weather
The wind howls outside my bedroom window. A tree branch, swaying in the wind, raps against the glass, tck tcking in an irregular rhythm. There are voices in that tempest, voices that I can just barely make out. They speak to me of times long past, of errors made and...
Critter
I have a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. That's where it lives. The critter, if you can call it that. It burrowed into my torso, and it took up residence there. All I can see of it is its mouth, sticking out of my abdomen, and it is insatiably hungry. I...
Crow
The crow talks to me. It sits on the road sign, with its black eyes, its black beak, and its black feathers, and it speaks to me. I don’t understand the words — they’re in bird, of course. But the words come, all the same. They take up space inside my mind,...