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

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

The Machine Pauses – Three Days in ICU

January 17, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

Oh, isn’t it awkward being passed along / Up and down confusing, fluorescent-lit corridors / From receptionist to nurse-practitioner / To technician to physician and back again

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

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

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?

An Artless Meditation on the Joyful Mysteries

November 15, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

May we all hear the Angel’s silver voice
In spite of ourselves…

The Result was Silence

November 8, 2022.Reading time 7 minutes.

If you have stood your watch throughout the night / To guard a clothesline of national importance / Dug foxholes only to fill them up again / And then patrolled through long days in the heat

That Final Trip

November 1, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

A friend wanted to visit the bones of her people / And give their graves some weed-killer and tending / I was deputed to follow along: / Cemeteries are dangerous places

Celebrate All Saints Day

October 29, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

Come on everyone, get up and dance / God has given us a wonderful chance / Sing and shout, hip hip hooray! / It’s time to celebrate All Saints Day!

Autumn is Life Writing its Autobiography

October 25, 2022.Reading time 11 minutes.

Autumn is not the end of summer, nor yet / Is autumn the beginning of winter; it is / Itself. Autumn is not between anything / Autumn is the culmination of seasons