Phillip Gillis

by phillip gillis Wherever here is- Floating. Just floating. Trusting yourself. Toes up. Palms up. Calm yourself. Slow your breathing. Don’t tip. Not like the other men (and Rembrandt) in the boat. At first, facing the horizon with eyes to the waves. Ears above the water. Children chirping. Seabirds begging. Ears below the water. A quiet current... and your thoughts. ...

Anglers Park - Danville, VA Story and photos by Phillip Gillis The Hiker             The uneven ground beneath his feet made him regret not bringing the walking stick his friend Leonard carved for him many years ago, but he pressed on - fighting against memories in his head while attempting to allow new ones in. “That part does not look ...

by phillip gillis I. Painting The ephemeral colors dancing on the horizon in a daring ballet of lavenders, not purple, and rust, like metal weathered in many storms, and periwinkle blue, like “mother’s dress,” lost in a mystic confusion even if Bob and Vincent did it better. II. Music The rhythms and lyrics bouncing around- little care for formalities and ...

by phillip gillis Years ago, sitting by the phone anticipating a call- Waiting for the clock to roll over and the ball (or acorn) to d r o p Take a moment to buy a new resolution (somewhere between 11:52 and 12:01 and a promise and a wish) but not really buy one… more or less just rent it for ...

By phillip gillis A skateboard cracked against the wall on the building next door as laughter erupted. I didn’t have to turn around because I knew the kids, taught their parents, and probably knew their grandparents, too. Then I heard an exchange I’ve heard my whole life… You alright? Yeah. What you doing this weekend? Nothing. Man, ain’t nothing to ...

by phillip gillis Do you remember the taste of summer? because it goes so fast. It tastes like a dirt path borrowed for the dusty journey on bikes and motorcycles and four wheelers around a tobacco field on the way to a community pool. sometimes during the day- other times at night- because we all knew the spot in the ...

by phillip gillis I walked up to the counter and bought a bit of springtime for three dollars (and a quarter). Earnest money. It was a year ago when spring was spring summer was summery fall was yet to fall. winter before we winter’d. The season in front of us. now behind us. still around us. and in front of ...

by phillip gillis she once fall’d up a mountain and the leaves came with her. off the ground fluttering into the air casually drifting up and up and- up lifting themselves effortlessly (or so it seemed) or were they carried? following them, she navigated the rhythms and chirps and cicadas. swirling. breathless. wandering aimlessly or aimlessly wandering.   she fall’d. ...

By phillip gillis It was one of those early summer mornings when the breeze made it almost chilly enough to wear the long-sleeved flannel shirt his grandfather gave him. The bridge leading into Virgilina never ran over a river, or any body of water, but it once spanned a set of railroad tracks that had long ago been covered with ...

by phillip gillis I. there was: no bell for the final day of school... no celebration among children in the neighborhood... no goodbyes or until next years... no demarcation between this season and that... II. there was: the family (sometimes on the other end of a computer screen) not within arms reach or the firm grasp of a hug but ...