I worked in the gardens until sweat poured down my face. It was one of those sultry August weekends in Iowa that makes us all flee inside to avoid wilting. Though tempted to sip iced tea in the air conditioning, my gardens called to me. It is that time of year when my flamboyant, showoff-y […]

It is difficult to know what and how to write in these times. Structures and norms and institutions we count on to be steady ground beneath our feet are crumbling or being intentionally destroyed. Though my life, in and of itself, could not be considered difficult or threatened, it is still hard to know how […]

For mid-July, it was a cold morning. Gray clouds hovered over the pool and the summer breeze was brisk and chilly. And yet we gathered to swim. All shapes and sizes, ages and demographics. Some obviously athletic, others barely able to walk up the sidewalk to join the line. We were the faithful -- some […]

After my post yesterday about poetry being the truest form of journalism, I thought I would share a few poems I love. What you must know about me is that I despise pretentious poems; poems it would take a PhD. to understand. If that is your jam, go for it. But it is not my […]

It is far too easy, when life is dark, to turn to facts and non-facts, arguments and counterarguments, all the words and torrents of opinion. We look to these things to help us make sense of the nonsensical, the absurd, the impossible to believe. But I find, when life is dark, poetry often helps more […]

Psalm 72 says - "Give insight of justice to the king, wisdom to distinguish right from wrong to his son -- that he might judge your people fairly, the poverty-stricken with vision of the just. Let mountains lift up peace for the people and the valleys flower with virtue. May he bring justice to the […]