I've been back a month now, from my writing time in Northern New Mexico. It was a time of daily plumbing the depths of my own fears, imaginations, enthusiasms, loneliness and creativity. I remember the colorful cabin with great fondness—it's only heat source a fireplace. At times I missed the ease of flipping a thermostat. … Continue reading At the River Clarion

We are still in Lent. The season of our sorrow has a light at the end of the tunnel as a country, but the struggles are still pernicious and perennial. COVID-19. War. Environmental destruction. Racism. White supremacy. Poverty. Sexism. A climate emergency. Meanwhile. This season is about a deep introspection of our own complicity. As … Continue reading To Dust

All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the four corners or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial— did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust? This is the day … Continue reading Blessing the Dust

   Ferment me, GodTake these blemished fruits of my lifeAdd the sweetness and yeast of your spiritBubble through meDistill the fragrance and flavorTransform meClarify mePour meWine is a kingdom beverage.Peggy Godfrey, renowned cowboy poetess.

If you could seethe journey whole,you might neverundertake it,might never darethe first stepthat propels youfrom the placeyou have knowntoward the placeyou know not. Call itone of the merciesof the road:that we see itonly by stagesas it opensbefore us,as it comes intoour keeping,step bysingle step. There is nothingfor itbut to go,and by our goingtake the vowsthe … Continue reading The Journey