The Stars of the Earth Cry Out
Last night, as I walked on the road that leads me home, I saw a deer sitting in the meadow. The moon was out, and the few stars not clouded with the glow of human endeavors kept their lights unmoving...
View ArticleWriting the Land and Its Story: An Interview with Paul Kingsnorth, Part 1
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It…and He Feels Fine”—that’s how the New York Times Magazine titled a profile of the writer Paul Kingsnorth. Kingsnorth is an essayist and novelist, an Englishman...
View ArticleIn a Funk
You’re not sorry you’re alive, just embarrassed. Aware of the burden of your body. How often do saltshakers tremble when you cross your unwieldy legs under the table? How many times do you hug an...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Sometimes I Am Permitted”
On my first reading of this poem, I felt disoriented by all the non sequiturs, all the disconnected images leaping here and there. But then I thought: isn’t this how my own attention works (or doesn’t...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “The Name of God”
In Scripture, “the name of God” equals “the power of God.” Think of Jesus saying, in John’s Gospel, “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (14: 13-14). What Anya Silver does in this poem is invent a...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Underwhelmed”
Put on your hiking books and grab your compass, magnifying glass, and shovel: this poem is taking you on an exploratory adventure. What the poem is tracking down is the manifold concepts in the word...
View ArticleAs Petals Fall
“Why are you in the dirt?” he asked, trundling to where I crouched. “I’m pulling weeds.” “Why?” “So that there’s there more room for the flowers.” “Why?” “Because I like the flowers.” “Why?” “Because...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “The Field”
I find solace in the natural world, in those precious moments alone, outside, away from the clutter and din of my material life. In “The Field” by poet, teacher and translator Jennifer Grotz we are...
View ArticleCutting Down the Butterfly Garden
When we bought our new house, a jungle of weeds marked the front yard. I was annoyed. The previous owners—moving out of the state—had obviously phoned in the upkeep in their last months of ownership...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “The Key”
I love this poem for its exuberance. The fat bee, “big as a blackberry,” bumping heavily against the pane. The impossibility of an acorn’s power. The very idea of “infant waterfalls.” Each vivid,...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Rain”
The emotional landscape of motherhood can often be hard to describe and is underrepresented in genres such as poetry. As a poet and mother of a two-year old with a new baby on the way, I appreciated...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Sister Storm”
I love the drama of this poem. Its title recalls St. Francis’s “Canticle of Brother Sun,” where Francis praises God through “Sister Moon,” “Brother Fire,” “Sister Water,” and so on. Jeanne Murray...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Hail, Spirit” by Pattiann Rogers
Recently, I have been reading The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle with my 16-month old daughter. In this story (which we have read many times now) the spider is diligent and focused, despite many...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Advent”
Of course you’ve heard of “El Niño.” And you know that it refers to the Pacific Ocean’s warming spells, which can cause heavy rains and even cyclones in the tropics. But did you know that El Niño...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Hive Boxes” by Megan Snyder-Camp
The sounds in this poem! I love its compactness and humming—its slender shape on the page, just like a tower of hive boxes. Bookended by two phrases that particularly sing—“lit hum” and “known...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Homily”
Last Sunday I was trying to decide whether to go church or take a walk along the river on a beautiful summer day in my corner of northwestern Washington. Some days I have time to do both and some days,...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Recovery”
What I like about this poem is how it slides almost unnoticeably from a simple, upbeat view of life into increasing complexities and ambiguities. The title and opening stanza announce that this will be...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Sometimes I Am Permitted”
On my first reading of this poem, I felt disoriented by all the non sequiturs, all the disconnected images leaping here and there. But then I thought: isn’t this how my own attention works (or doesn’t...
View ArticlePoetry Friday: “Again to Port Soderick”
To behold God’s creation and to praise it with language is this poem—and it is also the poem’s subject. For what is God’s creation to the devoted poet but a reminder that, as a piece of that creation,...
View ArticleOdd Northern Indiana
Route 41 takes you along the coast of Lake Michigan out of Chicago. If you are trying to stay close to the lake, then veer off Route 41 at Whiting and tack southeast onto Route 20. That’s where the...
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