I see them looking down from their perches. They’re talking to each other. “There are rumors of black oil, but those cylinders are running on empty.” I scoop seed from the bin and replenish the feeders. I’m distracted by a flicker on a nearby branch, so I hurry inside and come back with the […]
God Moments with G-Ma and Grace: The Soo Locks
It’s time to go home. But Grace saw a movie at school on the Soo Locks. She wants to see them up close and personal. And go through them. The scenery assaults me. We’ve come from peaceful and pristine to chaos and clutter. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan side. A place of barges and docks and […]
Window on Writing: The Hoosier Cabinet
At the end of chapter 12 of God in the Yard, L.L. Barkat suggests a writing exercise. Begin with a simple jotting of the objects and people around you . . . Choose just one of the images and make a second list, focused particularly on the item’s attributes . . . Next, try […]
God in the Yard: The End~Hospitality
Embrace the life you have before it’s gone. ~L.L. Barkat Please, God, let my parents come and beat her up. We’d had a sword battle with pencils, Penny and I. And Mrs. Smith rapped my 7-year-old knuckles. But not Penny’s. So I turned around and scribbled on Penny’s picture. And now I stood in the […]
Textures of Text: Poems-in-Waiting
Last week I texturized a year of my poetry in Wordle form in response to a T.S. Poetry Press challenge. And L.L. Barkat found a poem-in-waiting within those words: Now find love gentle sweet, like blue expectations attached to grace. She found other poems in the Wordles of others, too, and featured them as well as […]
Through and Through Life: On Learning to Work With
A whole day and evening to myself. At least that was my plan. My hope. Because some days I just get so weary. I guess I’m kind of the family matriarch. And the almost constant caretaking sometimes weighs heavy. And I get tired of the sacrifice. Sometimes I just need a break. I mean–who takes […]
Textures of Text: Stone Crossings–Doubt
They come. Irritating like grit under a contact lens. Like a dog hair embedded in the sole of my foot. Slivers of doubt. They creep in unannounced, uninvited, and unwanted. How could a loving God allow thousands of souls to be swept out to sea? What if life really is all an accident? What […]
Groaning for Japan
Sun bursts through banks of rolling pink and laughs all gold. Another dawn explodes with hope. A day like any other, with plans and expectations. I eat my oatmeal milked and sweet with slice of amber buttered. Steaming tea in hand, I sit. A crow catches draft and sails above corn stubble in bowl of […]
Textures of Text: Stone Crossings–Baptism
Crows hang near the house today. Perch in the tree across the drive. When I see crows, I think of my baptism. My first one anyway. That just isn’t right. I walked several blocks to church when I was in nursing school. Not every week. And not many weeks. But enough weeks to build up […]
Fuel for the Weekend: Caring for Self
He pulls the stethoscope from his ears and thumbs through my chart. “Have I ever told you that you have a heart murmur?” “No,” I answer slowly, almost in the form of a question. “Well, I hear one today. I’m going to have Sherry set you up for an echocardiogram. And it’s time for another […]
