Bamboo Sketches
by Charity Lee JenningsA Star-Filled Sky
I've told you the stories I’ve told you the stories, how our oldest couldn’t renew his visa, how our boys left home, how we followed not long after. How our life was turned upside-down. I’ve told of the sadness of saying good-bye. Of the weight of grief that...
A World Away
Their healing scent has filled these lands for a hundred years. As I reach the bridge, they’re in full view. Rows of massive eucalyptus trees following each side of River Pan Long far into the distance. Leaves and pods litter the path that lines the...
A Race I Didn’t Want To Win – Part 2
Original Artwork by Charity Lee Jennings Read Part 1 of the story here. “The taxi driver dropped us in the wrong spot,” Brian said over the phone. I glanced at my watch. They’d already had one Covid test that day but couldn’t get the results in time. The second...
A Race I Didn’t Want To Win
It was meant to be Malachi and Zachary’s last day in China and Brian was in search of a restaurant. “Cheap,” he thought, “we’ve already put so much money into plane tickets…but special.” Beef Noodle Soup was the perfect choice. It was a dish he’d come to love...
Liberation Tower
“I heard back from the Consulate,” I told Brian. “Either the boys or one of us needs to be there in person, since they’re switching from child to adult passports.” “What! Travel to another province? With all that’s going on with Covid?” “I know! I don’t...
A Promise To Myself
It's lockdowns and stay-cations and heartache. My family is on the other side of the world, and friends, who were once neighbours, are scattered around the globe unable to return to the place they call home. It felt strange to bring in a new year with...
My Nest
Weaving Grass, bits, leaves, twigs A home in high branches Life under wing, vulnerable Yet safe Pressing Pause I’m removed from nature in our ninth floor apartment, our nest in the sky, yet as I wrote I heard chirping. I rushed to the window. Three...
Open Highway
Trapped! Between the busyness of life and the Covid crisis, it had been nearly a year since I’d been on open highway, leaving city life behind. With parks closed and roads closed and apartment living, for months I felt trapped. My walks by the river were my...
One Who Gives
It wasn’t until I started painting the flowers that my mind turned to the fragility of life. I knew I needed to grieve. I’d been trying but being so far from family I couldn’t get to that place. But now, as I pushed my brush against the canvas to create leaves...
A Covid-19 Creation
Birds & Bare Branches Looking out the window we saw birds dancing over bare branches and our conversation turned to Brian’s grandpa and his love for birds and flowers. As a child, Brian explored his grandpa’s backyard garden with wonder. He speaks of his...
Face Masks & Friends: Surviving The Coronavirus Outbreak
“We need to buy face masks, right away.” Brian said, “And rubbing alcohol to wipe down everything we bring into the house, if stores aren’t already sold out.” Brian had been reading the news, watching the development of the Coronavirus outbreak, but I hadn’t...
New Fish, New Year
"Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are." Bernice Johnson Reagon Our fish tank has life again. The past year and a half it sat empty. It was Brian’s hobby, and Blossom happily joined in, choosing fish,...