Category Archives: semi-fiction

THE PIGPEN A GO GO by Peter Nolan Smith

September 11, 2024 – 1:34 pm

Life is the sum of a person’s experiences. Work and family dominate the sculpting of a soul. Days are defined by routine and years by the seasons and weather. En masse we are the same, but different thanks to our participation in special events liberating our souls from the shackles of perpetual monotony. Woodstock lasted […]

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A DAY FAR FROM NORMAL by Peter Nolan Smith

September 11, 2024 – 1:50 am

That morning a jet roared above the East Village. I opened my eyes. Lots of planes and helicopters flew over Manhattan. None of them ever this low or fast or loud. Thirty seconds later my apartment windows shook with a muffled thud that sounded more a boom than a crash. The children from the day-care […]

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RAIN 9/10/2001 by Peter Nolan Smith

September 10, 2024 – 6:17 pm

September 10, 2001 was a rainy day in New York and the Weather Channel predicted precipitation throughout the afternoon. .3 inches humid and wet. I exited from my East 10th Street apartment at 9.13 and headed toward Velseka’s on 2nd Avenue. My breakfast of a bagel and coffee came to $2.11. I gave the waiter […]

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NO SWIMMING ALLOWED by Peter Nolan Smith

September 9, 2024 – 10:12 am

The weather forecast predicted a sultry summer day for September 7, 2001. My friend Alia had transported a Porsche Boxer from the UK and her high-octane convertible awaited clearance at the Newark Customs. The British diplomat asked me to accompany her to the Jersey docks and I agreed on the stipulation that we drove the […]

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A FINE DAY FOR SAILING by Peter Nolan Smith

August 30, 2024 – 11:17 am

My grandmother hailed from County Mayo in Ireland. Her last name was Walsh. At the age of fourteen Nana traveled to Boston by ship. Most of the other passengers were cattle. “It was an awful crossing. Storms most of the way. We sailed in the Year of the Crow,” she told her grandchildren in her […]

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