Ezra Berkman
Bio
Life is so much better when you write it down.
Poet and novelist. All for my own enjoyment.
Author of "Where the River Narrows."
I may be reached personally at [email protected]
Stories (20)
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The Algum Tree
A deafening ring punctured the inner depths of my subconscious. I initially mistook it for screams. The universe unfolded as I awoke. Beads of sweat descended my forehead and fell into my eyes. I closed them. The ringing was overtaken by a loud, consistent bang, as if large chains were falling in sequence. We were moving fast. It was dark, the only visible light came through a small hole near the top of the train car.
By Ezra Berkman3 years ago in Fiction
Belleterre
The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Felix and I had arrived just a few hours before sunset. I rested my rifle against the only window and sat for the first time that day. Shelling could still be heard in the distance, probably from Fugereville. I couldn't determine whether it was loyalists or our forces. The cabin was modest and dilapidated, populated only by a child's teddy bear - faced down in the corner.
By Ezra Berkman4 years ago in Horror
The Rovim
"There weren't always dragons in the Valley." Alecto had whispered over to me. It was late. The sun had fully descended the horizon and disappeared beneath the sea. Grandfather had instructed us in the appropriate blessings and spells that coincide with nightfall, although he never taught us the words of the sacred language. Alecto and I had secured the entrance to our hut with a large stone, while mother kindled the fire. The Kikelev Isles dipped well below freezing each night. Fully lethal for humans but even elves would succumb if not indoors by nightfall.
By Ezra Berkman4 years ago in Fiction
Touched with Fire
I had read the book, all 260 pages, in a day. It was at the recommendation of a friend of mine, who was, like me, diagnosed bipolar. Touched with Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison explores the marriage between artistic temperament and mental illness. It is never specified in the book as to whether the fire is the creativity or the illness, or both. Mind you, the book makes no attempt to romanticize insanity, neither do I in writing this article. What it does do is document the clinical and quantifiable presence of psychotic illnesses in poets, artists, writers, playwrights and even mathematicians.
By Ezra Berkman4 years ago in Psyche
The unlikely marriage between Surfing and Psychosis
I had spent the last week sprawled out in the back of a Humvee, sleeping each night on a stretcher. Adjacent to me was another Hospital Corpsman. Our job that week was to ensure the safe execution of a live-fire range, conducted by the Marines in our battalion. Both of us were at the tail end of our naval service, and bonded over stories of far off deployments to Somalia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. These conversations were occasionally interrupted by the sudden need to tend to an injury, a drill, or distant rifle and rocket fire.
By Ezra Berkman4 years ago in Motivation
