we wait for the storm, we hunker down,

we pray for trees to stand tall, for safety for friends, for love in the dark pell mell of it all.



I am off to the University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writers House to see my students and my friends, and to read, for the first official time, from Handling the Truth.



As I leave, I tuck forty-four pages of my new Florentine novel into a safe, dry place.