What I Really Wanted. Foothills Publishing. November 2004. New and selected stories, poems and plays. 112 page paperback, hand-sewn, with flat spine.

from "The Essential Existential Lunch"

"Thank you," I said.
"Yes," Twink said. "And the Lord be with you."
"And also with you," I said.
"And with us all," Dort said.
"And with Roger, and Ralph, and Willa," Twink said.
"And their families," I said.
"Yes," said Twink.
"And with Reggie," Dort said.
"And with Woff, waiting on the dock," I said.
"Oh sweet Jesus in the morning!" said Twink. "We'd better go back and get him, or nobody's going to have lunch!"
Twink turned on the ignition and the boat zoomed forward, throwing Dort into my soaking wet arms.
"I love you!" Dort shrieked.
"Me too!" I yelped.
"What?!" said Twink Woffington as she drove toward the Reverend on shore.

from "What I Really Wanted"

My mother's lips tighten. She's hungry, impatient at her sister's indecision, taps the point of her butter knife on the edge of the linen tablecloth (but not on the china) like Buddy Rich warming up for his last set. My aunt sets out to read the menu again as the nurse-like waitress with high bust line, narrow waist, and a pale purple beauty mark on her right cheek asks, "Ready to order your lunch?"

from "Fat Chance and Warren-Bird"

Then there was one of those pauses like just before a tornado hits and the light and air go all funny yellow-grey, like just before the distant humming sound in Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, or maybe even like the silence just after Father Gottlieb farted before his prayer at the last annual VFW Thanksgiving dinner.

from "Artie"

But, alas, it was inevitable that the townsfolk of Eaton, Connecticut, eventually found out about Artie, dubbed him, "The Eaton Tick," and teased him unmercifully, especially at American Red Cross blood donation drives during World War II. But somehow little Artie survived all that nonsense, lived a reasonably good life for a small, green and wizened creature, until shortly before I went to Eaton, to interview Mendel and Tula for my book.

from "Look How the Birds Are Walking On Her Shoulders"

BUDDY: I'm telling you, she'll understand from you. You've been there with her. And she knows you knew Mom best.

WILL: Ho, ho. Oh, boy. I knew Mom best! A joke. It's got to be a joke, right Lou? Mom made a statue out of the dust she saved from under your bed.

BUDDY: She missed me, that's all. I sent money. I had a lot of things to figure out.

WILL: She missed you?! She thought you were some kind of god. She missed you. It was a sin how much she missed you. If she missed Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as much as she missed you, she'd probably be in heaven now.

from "Peace"

MARION: Oh. Chocolate. Yes. A drop of chocolate. Each angel eye. I love chocolate.

FRANCESCA: Si. Yes. Me too. I like chocolate very much.

MARION: I like to bite it. I like how it breaks and pops a little cloud of taste in your mouth. I like to chew it. I like when the liquid splashes on your tongue. Sometimes I like to lick it with the tip of my tongue. The tip. It drives me crazy.

JOE: Crazy.

from the Forward

"Bruce's themes are ancient and tribal. Whatever the form, he is finally a poet. A poet in the bardic tradition who, as Stafford says, responds to life by singing. Singing about faith, hope and love: all found in the details of life.