On occasion words come to “set my hair on fire.” It is one of my favorite metaphors to describe a life-changing experience. Poetry is a matter of words used to proper effect, to orient us as a compass needle to our position within the larger scheme of space and time. This poem by Cal…
I accompanied my granddaughter to a story telling event at the public library. The topic was the screech owl and raptors in general. The three story tellers were enthusiastic about their work rehabilitating injured raptors, returning the birds to the wild. I felt humbled in the presence of the birds which were gently removed…
[Sun-messenger] Lynn Xu Sun-messenger call Life to me slowly and all at once criss- crossing in that golden light Snail with your moving shroud Silver tree with your thousand roadways O dream hurry go past me This poem speaks to me and I cannot describe why. These are the shortest days, less…
This is a controversial image. Street Art by definition is subversive, a point blank interrogation of the received, official interpretation of events. The war between the IDF and Hamas grinds on. “Grind,” is the word. The densely populated landscape of Gaza continues to be pulverized by artillery, by IDF airstrikes in order to eliminate…
Journey of the Magi T. S. Eliot ‘A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.’ And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There…
I participated with a group of friends in a discussion about the future. What possible paths appear to be before us as a society, given the political, economic, an social trends that we are aware of? I am satisfied the future is opaque, not subject to prediction. Still, who can resist such an exchange…
The rules that programmed an entire century: form follows function. We planned cities, tone-deaf buildings, urban social engineering, so soul-crushing it finally had to be leveled. Monster homes plopped on the seashore, boxes upon boxes, right to the property line, curve of the shore against the straight-lime imagination of the developers. Post-modern architecture was…
December 21st. The dark outside is palpable reminder. Today is the shortest day of the year. The tilt of the earth’s axis away from the sun is at an oblique angle in the northern hemisphere. Is the dark evil, the diminished light an omen? On the other hand might we celebrate this interlude, pause…
Midweek. A few days remain until Christmas. The to-do list is short. To live is to act, to do. It is good to have a list, the illusion of control. I believe there is no control, that all is at “the mercy” of the state of things that immediately preceded this moment. Still there…
Tuesday morning and it is mid-December. Winter is settling in. The temperature is in the teens. That the season arrives as expected anchors my sense of well being. We utterly depend upon Nature. Yes, I am “of Nature” and there is nothing “higher” that I can say of myself. I have the benefit of…
