The Sacred Rituals
The Sacred Rituals
40 postcards from a confused samurai.
The Sacred Rituals
I came to watch the gladiators clash, and found the warriors feasting hours before the arena…
The Sacred Rituals
USA. There is a white sauce here that the people pour upon…
The Sacred Rituals
My host calls him “the weather man.”
The Sacred Rituals
My neighbor, Dale, possesses a magnificent machine of burden, and I have observed its quiet,…
The Sacred Rituals
My neighbor’s small, red banner on a stick appeared, and he raised it, not to announce battle,…
The Sacred Rituals
In America, a stranger will say “bless you” when you sneeze.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. A supermarket register.
The Sacred Rituals
At an American baseball game, a stranger will throw his arms around you the instant your side…
The Sacred Rituals
There was a man at the next table in uniform, and the waitress would not let him pay.
The Sacred Rituals
Fifty thousand people stood up in order, section by section.
The Sacred Rituals
My nose tingled, a familiar warning.
The Sacred Rituals
The wind changed, the air grew heavy, and the sky above my neighbor’s house began to pulse with…
The Sacred Rituals
In America, a stranger will hold a door for a man who is nowhere near it.
The Sacred Rituals
Over here, the school bus has an ARM, and when the arm extends, all of America stops.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. The woman handed me my receipt and said, “Have a nice day!”
The Sacred Rituals
Beneath a lantern declaring “Express Lane,” I observed a sacred instruction, written in bold…
The Sacred Rituals
USA. On Saturday mornings, a parking lot near my home becomes a…
The Sacred Rituals
Somewhere in America, your weather report is performed as THEATER, and I have become a devoted…
The Sacred Rituals
I bought water and gum.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. September first.
The Sacred Rituals
A child, flushed from battle with summer heat, offered me his elixir, fresh from a green serpent…
The Sacred Rituals
USA. A grocery store.
The Sacred Rituals
There is a moment at the end of every American meal when a stranger in an apron offers you the…
The Sacred Rituals
USA. The forecast promised a storm, and my neighbor responded by…
The Sacred Rituals
We came upon an American house with its treasures spread across the front lawn.
The Sacred Rituals
There was a sign on the lawn. “YARD SALE.”
The Sacred Rituals
My neighbor, Walt-san, cuts his vast garden mounted upon a motorized steed, a ritual I have…
The Sacred Rituals
USA. A woman named Brittany whispered that she was going to…
The Sacred Rituals
A national holiday. The chains had invented it, I knew that.
The Sacred Rituals
In America, a stranger will say “love you” and then hang up.
The Sacred Rituals
My friend beckoned me toward a door I had always presumed to be a mere closet, a portal to some…
The Sacred Rituals
Somewhere in America, july 4th, 9 p.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. I thanked the young woman for my coffee.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. A highway on-ramp.
The Sacred Rituals
I stood before the grandest collection of faces I had ever witnessed, a silent army of joy and…
The Sacred Rituals
The waiter knelt slightly, met my eyes, and said, “Hi, I’m Brad, I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”
The Sacred Rituals
USA. Your weather report is performed as THEATER, and I have become a devoted patron.
The Sacred Rituals
USA. Driving at night through open country, I saw a pink light…
The Sacred Rituals