On the Consumption of Art

March 14, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

But we do not consume a work of art / Sometimes we almost seem to marry it / Joining art in a sacrament of love / Beyond the velvet ropes of ownership

All Intelligence is Artificial

March 7, 2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

No, no, we are not banks of blinking lights / And random teletype-type taps and beeps / Like Patrick McGoohan’s educational General / Or George Jetson’s mainframe at Spacely Sprockets

People of the Book

February 28, 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

The Thought became Incarnate in Judaea / And thoughts become incarnate in the books we read / For thoughts are tabernacles of our hopes / Tents in the deserts of our wanderings

A Premise of Joy

February 18, 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Their wedding ceremony was deeply moving; / Adil needed a few moments to take it in. / He watched his new bride. / Joy barely covered what he felt on this night.

For Jack On His Birthday

February 14, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

In the long ago I was reading a book / (And doubtless thinking many brilliant thoughts) / Sitting in my car outside Our Lady’s Church / Waiting for some old-lady meeting to end

Memphian Lamentation

February 7, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Let us instead look within our fatal selves / With every resentment validating the Fall of Man / With every snub murdering Abel again / With every lie sentencing Christ to death

Tolkien’s Shelob the Spider

January 31, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

A poisonous lump of flesh in malignant repose / Her lair all befouled with scraps of souls / In life sought out with her multiplex eyes / Her Sauron-eyes – it was the hopes that died first

The Cat as an Argument Against the Concept of Evolution

January 24, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

On the sixth day God made the animals / The cat generally disapproved of the others / And in a superior fashion licked its paws / In the springtime shade of the very first oak

Edna St. Vincent Millay and Her Pickup Truck

January 10, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

The fragility of teenaged boys is well known / Despite their tough hands stained with oil and grease / And their slouch and their ‘tude, wanting to be grown / Their loud voices disturbing the classroom’s peace

St. Nicholas’ Night

January 5, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The original Santa Claus / Was a man who lived in Turkey / A very long time ago, tis true / A jolly, dear old Bishop / Who took his duties seriously / And a smile when times were blue

The Christmas Puzzle

December 29, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Oh Christmas crib, oh Christmas crib, / What a privilege you were blessed to have / From you food to animals was given / And now you carry the Bread of Heaven / Oh Christmas crib, oh Christmas crib, / What a privilege you were blessed to have

Children Following the Star on Christmas Eve

December 27, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Good children dress warmly to watch for the star / The star of Bethlehem, the shepherds’ star / The star of the magi, true-guiding star / And more than all of these, the children’s star

Word Sung as Light

December 20, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

A deep, slow stream of tones, of modes, of chants / Where time and all eternity flow as one / Through voices and dreamlike echoings / Among the Altars of the earth and sky

Christmas Choirs

December 17, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Oh listen, listen, how the bells doth ring
Echoing over the blankets of winter’s sting
Like a single candle flickering in the night
Giving off some hope, warmth and light
Burn bright, burn long, and send incense up above
Like the Seraphim burning bright with love

Open

December 8, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Open your eyes, look around you / What are the things you see? / The world is a great big, scary place / But oh the wonders there will be!

A Tiny Tinsel Star

December 6, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

While cleaning house I found a tinsel star / A tiny tinsel star from long ago / When once upon a time it shone so far / Above a Christmas scene in cotton snow

On the Eve of Advent

November 29, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

On the eve of Advent Jupiter ascends / As is his custom at dusk this time of year / Then Mars and the company of Orion / And all the dutiful stars awake, arise

A Great Thanksgiving

November 24, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Start the day right by giving thanks to the Lord
And decorating with leaves, fruit, and gourds
Preparing the food as you sing
That’s part of what makes a great Thanksgiving

Autumn: Do I Turn the Thermostat Forward

November 22, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

The thermostat that I set for seventy / In the August heat was entirely too warm / And now in November it’s entirely too cold / Why can’t thermostats get the temperature right?