About Me

  • Me vs. Me: The Scroll

    Me vs. Me: The ScrollBy: Emmitt Owens(Index #01052026)    The blue glow painted my face as I scrolled through another profile. Single. The word sat there like an invitation I couldn’t accept, couldn’t ignore, couldn’t do anything with except stare at it until my eyes burned.     My thumb hovered over the message button, frozen in… Read more

  • Red Flags, Red LightsPart I of a three-part fictional character study examining miscommunication, intrusive thought, and self-reflection.A Multisyllabic, Whimsy, Stream of Consciousness RhymeBy: Emmitt Owens(Index #01042026) [Verse 1]I said “maybe lunch” like a shrug with a smileShe heard “future plans,” heard “pressure,” heard “trial”I got more free time than a retired clockEven my hustle hit… Read more

  • Flossin’ (With Welding Wire)A Multisyllabic, Whimsy, Stream of Consciousness RhymeBy:Emmitt Owens(Index #01032026) [Verse 1]In the age of alarm clocks, I missed the cueHit snooze on myself, let the weird come throughStatic in my bloodstream, dial-up soulTryna download peace on a cracked flip phone Pajama-pants swagger, Jordans feel newSlingin’ spaghetti out the window of my confused… Read more

  • B-12: A Love Vitamin

    B-12: A Love NumberBy: Emmitt Owens(Index #12312025)    Look, I’m fifty-four, and I’ll tell you right now: the house didn’t echo when my youngest daughter drove off to college. It just got quiet. The kind of quiet you’ve been waiting thirty-four years for, even if you didn’t know it. The last of the kids to… Read more

  • A Tuesday Poem

    A Tuesday PoemBy: Emmitt Owens(Index #12302025) Tuesday weighs heavy like wet wool, this day that pretendsto be productive but really just slouches between the bookends—and I’m thinking about how we’ve built this elaborate theaterwhere everyone’s both audience and performer and no onecan remember their lines but we all keep showing up anyway,swiping left on our… Read more

  • The Opt-OutEpisode 5By: Emmitt Owens (Index #12292026) “Tolerance for not knowing is the quiet skill modern relationships no longer teach. It’s the ability to sit inside uncertainty without immediately labeling it, fixing it, or defending against it. It’s trusting that meaning can emerge over time instead of demanding clarity on demand. Relationships don’t unfold through certainty—they… Read more

  • ✦ ✦ ✦ The Melang Family From the Shores of East Prussia to the Heartland of Wisconsin ⸻ A Chronicle of Faith, Courage, and Family ⸻ Compiled from the 1942 manuscript“My Mother’s Story as She Told It to Me”by Edna Blank Carbeille Enhanced with historical records, family testimony, and descendant research ✦ ✦ ✦ Dedicated… Read more

  • The Bug, I Didn’t Remove

    The Bug I Didn’t RemoveA Whimsy-Whirly, Topsy-Turvy, Tale of Delightful NonsenseBy: Emmitt Owens In two-thousand-seventeen, so the story goes,Everyone was keeping score with their…fingers and toes! Of a game nobody wanted, a game with no rules—I said, “I won’t play!” and they thought “he’s a fool”. Ten years before that (or was it eleven?)I found… Read more

  • Tuesday feels like everyone’s got a checklistof thingsthat shouldn’t bother thembut doHoward wrote three posts this weekabout baseball caps facing backwardThree separate postsSame capSame complaint.Same energy of a man who says“I just keep scrolling”while absolutely…not keeping scrollingInstead…He stopsHe has to post about itHe has to post about howthe plastic strap bothers himThat little adjustable piecestretched… Read more

  • Chill n’Fill: Thankful at Pump #3By: Emmitt OwensEpisode #68(Index #11252025)    Thanksgiving at the Chill n’Fill doesn’t come with tablecloths.     It comes with salt stains on the floor mats and people swearing under their breath at Pump #3.   The bear—twenty feet of winking plastic optimism—stood over the lot in a knit scarf and a beanie… Read more