Spirituality
Even So…#4
On day ? of the plague: The full moon offered her silver energy to my open arms last night, even so. Lightning lit up the sky in the witching hour, a display full of wonder, in spite of everything. The bread didn’t rise, but thanks to a friend’s recipe, the tontons were delicious, even so.…
Read MoreEven so…. #1
I’ve lost count of how long this pandemic has been going on. But, remembering the words of Raymond Carver, who wrote, “Did you get wanted what you wanted from this life, even so?”, I ask and will keep asking, was this day a miracle, even so? In spite of everything, I drew a deep breath…
Read MoreDo You Keep Writing? Three Lessons
Every day I hear from writers who tell me how impossible it is to keep going, how they are broken by this ‘business’ and they see no reason to continue. Often this means they see no reason to continue living, since being a writer/creator/artist is so deeply embedded in the soul as the archetype by…
Read MoreEven so?
My new book, which I anticipate will be published in the spring of 2021, deals with the challenge of loving difficult people. It’s called Even So, which comes from this final poem by Raymond Carver: And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To…
Read MoreWhen The Veils Are Thin
According to the calendar, tomorrow is Samhain/Halloween, but for me, this is the day. Why? Because I woke up with my head filled with the flames of my ancestors, some of whom I know, and a few I don’t. (Calendars are odd. So man-made, regardless of the energies that manifest. ) There are different names…
Read MoreQuiet Grace
This wet and green May morning I’m sitting in a log cabin next to the Bushkill Creek, drinking coffee, dog by my side, My Best Beloved in the chair by the big window, which is filled with the sweet green leaves of spring. It’s raining today, so green is greener, tree trunks are browner, the…
Read MoreThe First Cathedral, With Angels
It’s Easter Sunday morning and I am sitting behind my house, near the liminal space marking the border between the garden and the Wild Wood. I am watching for the foxes. The vixen and her three kits. For several years a family of foxes has taken up residence in the complicated, many-entranced den where once…
Read MoreReading in Dark Times
It can be difficult for me to remain cheery in the midst of world events. It’s hard to remember that all things are born, live and die into transformation, only to repeat the cycle over and over again. This is true, I believe of all sentient things, as well as eras, cultures, nations, planets… The…
Read MoreI Hurt/I Hurt
There is a double meaning to the title of this blog: I hurt, as in I am feeling pain, but also I hurt, as in I have inflicted pain. A few days ago I did something necessary, something I had obsessed about for months, something I had meditated on, prayed over, asked advice about. I…
Read MoreAlice McDermott's THE NINTH HOUR and her magic mirror
I recently read Alice McDermott’s brilliant book, THE NINTH HOUR, about which NPR said: “The Ninth Hour begins with a suicide. The aftermath is handled with indisputable authority by a nun who works with the sick and poor, Sister St. Saviour, who arranges both a funeral for the dead man and a future for his pregnant…
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