Laura Oliver

Annapolis

Author:The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers (Penguin Random House,) among best books of 2011 Poets and Writers and The Writer magazines.

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Articles

Shelter By Laura J. Oliver

1 week ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

Join us for Spy Night with Laura Oliver who will be reading her work in the Stoltz Listening Room at the historic Avalon Theater in Easton this Wednesday evening, June 4th. Doors open at 5:30. I’m in a standoff with a house finch looking for affordable housing. The blossoms from three hanging baskets on the porch drape in pink and purple profusion but yesterday the impatiens began bobbing around as if someone short was lost in a cornfield. Suddenly, a finch popped out and flew to a powerline.
All the Love You Cannot See By Laura j. Oliver

2 weeks ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

My dog Leah can see a squirrel at night and people approaching a mile down the road, but she can’t see herself in the mirror. I hold her up to it, and she acts as if the mirror is repellent. She’ll look anywhere else. This is how I feel about Zoom. I’ve never wanted to teach online and now I have to. It’s like being forced to look into a mirror for hours at a time. It’s demoralizing for the non-photogenic and I’m wondering how old you must be to not care how you look in mirrors and photos.
When Your Life is the Story By Laura J. Oliver - Talbot Spy

3 weeks ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

Note: On June 4, Laura Oliver and Andrew Oliver will be reading stories as part of the Spy Night Series at the Avalon Theatre. Doors open at 5:30 pmThree years ago today, when I started writing these weekly stories, I confided, “You might as well know up front that I believe in life after death, mental telepathy, and mind over matter.” I was being a little facetious since I also mentioned having spent my childhood trying to make my cat Purrfurr levitate.
Tenants of the Heart By Laura J. Oliver - Talbot Spy

4 weeks ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

What’s worse than spotting a quarter-sized spider on the ceiling above your bed as you turn out the light? Instantly switching the lamp back on to discover he’s gone. How will you know in the morning he didn’t crawl out the window? The idiotic scenario your half-asleep partner tried to sell as you high-stepped on the mattress clutching a paper towel? Each itchy red bite on your shoulder will have two tiny punctures, not one. Spider-fun-fact.
Sleepless in Annapolis By Laura J. Oliver

1 month ago | cambridgespy.org | Laura Oliver |James Dissette

Can you feel me staring at you as you sleep? You are as still as my pink robe tossed at the foot of the bed. You are not even dreaming by the look of it. I’m gazing at you with more intrigue than resentment, although that may be a lie. Not only are you sound asleep, oblivious to my scrutiny, but you were unconscious 30 seconds after your (stupid) head hit the pillow. Sorry. That was immature. I’m tired, and I’m envious. And I’m ascribing to you all kinds of virtues that may be unwarranted.
Sleepless in Annapolis By Laura J. Oliver

1 month ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver |James Dissette

Can you feel me staring at you as you sleep? You are as still as my pink robe tossed at the foot of the bed. You are not even dreaming by the look of it. I’m gazing at you with more intrigue than resentment, although that may be a lie. Not only are you sound asleep, oblivious to my scrutiny, but you were unconscious 30 seconds after your (stupid) head hit the pillow. Sorry. That was immature. I’m tired, and I’m envious. And I’m ascribing to you all kinds of virtues that may be unwarranted.
When the Thing that You Long for is Not What You Want By Laura J. Oliver

1 month ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

I leave at 3:20, having not yet taught myself to check the traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge hours before any intention to cross it, and so, already marginally late to my college reunion—and this is a big year for my class—I am stopped bumper to bumper. It takes me an hour to creep along the next six miles to the bridge for no reason other than rain and rush hour on a Friday. I have another hour to drive beyond that.
In the beginning was the word By Laura J. Oliver

1 month ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

Here’s what old people do. They talk about their aches and pains and what they had to eat at their most recent meal. Grilled cheese, and my hip hurts. Ha ha. I know you’re reviewing your last conversation with furrowed brow, so I’m trying to make you feel better. To make myself feel better, I’m engaged in an experiment. I have a pain that only manifests when I lie down on my left side, but it’s really interfering with my lack of sleep. That’s another joke. Read it again.
Magnified By Laura J. Oliver

1 month ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver

Every morning, when I get ready for my day, I sit at my dressing table, known as a vanity by the judgy, and check out my face in a mirror that lights up and magnifies by a power of 15. “Why do you do that?” my mother asked when she was alive. And “Stop doing that!” my former dermatologist groaned. “No one expects perfection!”I smiled at him sadly. He was, of course, a man.
And then there were three (For Sharon and Andrea) By Laura J. Oliver

2 months ago | talbotspy.org | Laura Oliver |James Dissette

I’m at my sister’s horse farm basking in a late-March, Blue Ridge mountain twilight, enjoying a glass of wine around the firepit with my two older sisters. Golden Mica-dog is on sentry duty gazing out over the fields and lake like the good boy he is—keeping watch for bears, beavers, and falling stars. He will never be known for his intelligence, fairly or unfairly, because he is such a good-looking blond.