A Poem For Your Monday
I watched these old, old maples bend in the wind of that hurricane. Because they yielded, they are still standing. That is how I want to live. I am more and more sure that art and beauty and love grow best not by raging against the wind (or the storm, the dark day, the hard, unasked-for circumstance). They come through yielding. To yield is...
To Practice Hope
Only seven weeks old, and she’s seen her first hurricane. Actually, “heard” might be more accurate. I’m not sure any of us held her up to the window to watch the rain fall, but we were both awake to hear the wind in the night. It was a wind to make you thank heaven for thick brick walls, even while you wondered if the storm windows would hold....
A Poem For Your Monday
Once upon a time, Mondays on this website were devoted to poetry. Because the small bites of poetry are about the only literary food I have time for these days, I'm reviving the tradition. Please tell me what you think. Would you like a poem each week? To help you make up your mind, here's one from a favorite poet, Luci Shaw. It reminds me...
Say It With Me
A few mornings ago, I heard an interview on NPR with the poet Mary Oliver. Speaking of the experiences which inspire her poetry, she said, "The world doesn't have to be beautiful to work. But it is beautiful. Why?" Some questions don't need to be answered in order to open our eyes. There is wisdom to be had just in the asking. We tend to think...
Home Is … This Moment Right Now
I've written before how I refuse to live in the moment. I still stand by that. Mostly. But here is something new (one more new thing in a season of new things): I'm learning to make my home in the moment. If life is a river moving relentlessly forward, the present moment is like an eddy in the current. It is too easy for me to press on and on,...
Having Reached the End of Myself
How easily we share our triumphs and proudest moments. Facebook updates. Twitter exclamations. Instagram slices of time. I post the funny things my boys say. I upload sweet photos of new sisters. How easily we share our dreams and daily pleasures. Amazon wishlists. Spotify playlists. Pretty pinterest boards. These are not the...