Greetings! If you’re a regular reader, you know the past two weeks I’ve suggested some prayers that I’ve found helpful, and I continue to encourage everyone to write prayers and affirmations too. It’s funny, because almost as soon as the first post went up, I began to feel kind of down. And so I felt … Continue reading Continued Sheltering, part three
This week I want to share a prayer my late friend Craig taught me. It’s very simple: “Release into Essence.” Essence was Craig's word for Divine Energy or God. It’s a versatile prayer, appropriate to multiple situations, and adaptable to your own circumstances and beliefs. You may wish to insert your name for God--be it … Continue reading A Prayer for Trying Times
Greetings to everyone who is sheltering in place as I am. How are you? I am fine. There are many things we could complain about—and if that’s what you want to do, go ahead and vent in the comments section. I personally have little to grouse about these days. I am retired so I don’t … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place, part 2
Helen followed her older sisters from the kitchen to the family room. To anyone else, her sisters were unremarkable in size and form, but Helen saw herself reflected in the width of their hips, the pronounced shape of ankle and calf, the length of their necks. Blair and Bianca strolled comfortably together, shoulder to shoulder, … Continue reading Outgrown
The Amazon tagline describes this novel by Ann Patchett as the story of a family that goes from poverty to riches to poverty and back to riches again. Well, yeah, but that hardly prepares us for the plot of this book. More than a few reviewers call it a fairy tale. I just didn’t see … Continue reading The Dutch House, a review
Hi, there!! In case you haven't heard, April is National Poetry Month, so all month I've been posting original poems. Times being what they are, I've wanted to post poems that are fun and/or funny! This week's offering fits both categories well. Enjoy! The music is salty like dry roasted peanuts. I come downstairs … Continue reading Velvet Dress
April is National Poetry Month, so I'll be posting a few poems this season. Currently I spend more time writing prose stories instead of poems, so it's been fun for me to look back at poems I wrote in past decades. This poem is from a period when I was experimenting with classic forms. … Continue reading The Bear, a sestina
I want to wish everyone a peaceful Holy Week, and a Blessed Easter. I wrote this poem a few months ago. I'd seen another praise poem, written like this, designed so the reader would read the first column from top to bottom, and then come back up and read the second column. I thought it … Continue reading Praise Poem
Hey, it's National Poetry Month, so I've decided to post a few poems this April. It's been fun for me to look back over my decades-long collection of poems to find a few that will be just right for this moment in time. None of those wild, whiny, passionate unrequited love poems I seemed prone … Continue reading How to Find the Muse
When I was 21 I went to Europe on a five-week student tour with my best friends. On our last day we were in England, and we went on a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich. I have several memories of that day, a few funny stories, conversations, photos, but there was one image … Continue reading Sheltering-in-Place
