for Grandpa Marty Somewhere between the third and fourth day, you waved goodbye to belief in God’s existence through a window you drew on the muddy walls of your cell. When you came out of that tomb you asked for a pen and some stationary to record your life after this conversion. A journal full of requests...

Disciplines are good for the soul, they say. They say. My mind flutters with ordinary thought. Of murder and creation. Paint splatters and fine lines. This squishy brain has difficulty with order. The same. The same. Daily office seems like a lovely thought. Or theory. Not in practice. I cannot help...

Everybody knows When we were all wide-eyed little ones Before we learned to hate and hurt, Every one of us knew, As if there was nothing else to know, That life is a gift beyond all others, And we share it with every other person, Old or young, Here or there, Large or small, Now or then. Every animal...

I was made by two children of God Tearfully greeted by hearts breaking with joy Brought home to safe reception, Looked after diligently, And made a sister Sung to sleep. I was taught to say my pleases and thank yous To clean up after myself To be a helpful guest To share with my sister And appreciate...

Watching them fly, I am reminded of the tastes of life, what a circling pattern love is, and how entanglement is a warm nest of briars that bids return. No one really goes away, any more than a word undone. Love is not pure in present tense. Each season, the tympani of wings blackens the farthest sight, and...

In morning and in spring, secrets giggle, tightly wound and new until bursting into youthful laughter. She shines back toward the grateful sun. The day grows tall and this unfolding, lovely flower is most beautiful once opened, full and mature. Captivating bee and butterfly. She nods while tending to...

the minute hand clicking by time running away with the days merciless face emotionless ruler time kisses each face with a little bit of death each day each day a staggering soul blown out and a baby born calculated time, cold as steel yet, decaying morals celebrate breath and blood in their beautiful...

When the church became a building She forgot her founder’s call She chose instead brick and mortar to build herself a wall The doors she built Locked some out, others in Proclaimed who was holy And who was still in sin She lit the candles Said it was time to pray Blew out the lights Now time to go...

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” – Acts 2:12 Strand One: recognition tongues of fire on their heads, glimmering banners of love— tongues afire in their mouths, burning through the brush of the babble of unknown languages— a harmonious riversong of...

It’s more than the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz It’s more than doing what everyone else does It’s more than putting on a uniform. Courage is our name For those times When we, and everyone around us, want more than anything to give up, When we know we are losing, But we keep going, We keep...