A winter's poem I wrote a few decades ago. In December the sky darkened but a star cracked the blackness to perch like a red bird on the waiting finger of an evergreen tree. Hiking through the field we knelt on damp leaves and knew: the Earth will heal herself. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Blessed … Continue reading Shepherd’s Story
I first wrote and published this piece several years ago when Barack Obama was president and John Boehner was speaker of the house, and we were in the midst of a federal government shut-down. It was a time of great anxiety, partisanship and divisiveness. Things being what they are, I decided the beginning of this … Continue reading A New Year Prayer for Healing Division
This poem continues my theme of December oranges, but also serves as a holiday warning: don't let this season try your patience and drive you to exhaustion! Remember, the smartest thing to do on the longest night of the year is sleep. If I can pluck the moon from the sky I may find it’s … Continue reading Don’t Eat the Moon
Continuing my December theme, I give you my own personal ode to oranges. . . Oranges are loud. Oranges are splashy. They are not subtle. They are not shy. They may be as big as softballs, but they consider themselves to be miniature stars, small globes of fire, a reflection of the solar energy that … Continue reading Juicy
On December 7th, 1941, my mother was at her friend Louise’s house. They were picking the first oranges of the season when Louise’s mother came out to the yard to tell them the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Every year after, my mother commemorated the date by picking, and then eating, the … Continue reading My Mother’s Orange Tree
I wrote this piece with my Thursday night group. I changed most of the prompts, but perhaps you may still recognize them: the child, September, denigration, breakage, loss of youth, rust, crawling sickness, an obstacle, aberration, there are layers, no one was ready, nostalgic, January, time’s fun when you’re having flies, a blessing, apple tree, green shirts, … Continue reading The Child’s Notebook
Wishing you a Blessed Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! I'm feeling the need for a long winter's nap. See you in January. . . Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Greetings! This week I've updated a Christmas post from a few years past. It seems more meaningful than ever right now. Long ago, in the pagan cultures of the far north, work and travel were severely limited by cold and snow as days grew shorter. Farmers and their families would remove a wheel from their carts … Continue reading Meditation on an Advent Wreath
Last week I listed a few of my favorite books for cold weather reading and gifting. This week, allow me to tell you about a few of my favorite read-aloud picture books for kids. These are all books I loved to read to my students when I was teaching, and I feel safe in saying they’re modern … Continue reading Read-Aloud Picture Books
I’ve heard it said that Russian novels are so long because Russian winters are so cold! What better way to spend time inside than reading a book? In Iceland I hear there’s a tradition of gifting family and friends with books and chocolate so they may take to their beds cozy and satisfied for a long … Continue reading Celebrating Books
