There has been a small book on my bedside table for a couple months now. I opened it once, and after that I did not touch it. The book actually doesn’t seem to sit or even lie on the table. It seems to hover— held aloft from the earth and all its possessions from the…
Category: Ponderings
On thoughts, and the thinking behind them
Squinting at the Past
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So I’ve been home in the town where I grew up for a few days to visit my ailing Dad. I am always relieved to get here, and feel it viscerally. But at the same time, my visits are filled with the anxiety of missing someone, letting someone down, not seeing enough of who and…
What Makes Me Come Alive
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“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” –Howard Thurman Today my two friends, Karin and Marcy, both told me I should be WORKING WITH TEENAGERS. “You know how to talk to them.” “They seem to really…
My Favorite… Poem
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Want to torture me? Ask me who my favorite AUTHOR is. Or my favorite film. AAHHH! It’s really like asking the old woman who lived in the shoe which is her favorite child. I mean, can she even remember all of them? But I do have a poem that I love and come back to…
To Ask for Help, or Go It Alone
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Here’s my quandry and I’d love some feedback I feel like I work better with a partner: the home business thing is not only intimidating, it is like a labyrinth of learning. I write— that’s my main gig. But I know I can develop a business that would provide fantastic creative products that allow people…
Small Fry in Big World
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The Entire World – Small Stone You see “small”– But me, Mom, This Smoothie We Contain The Entire World
Stress in the Rearview Mirror
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This picture reminded me instantly of our summer vacation in Maine and of floating on my back, gazing at the blue sky and hearing only the sound of my own breath. But then, it also reminded me of this new feeling I own… a tight grip on my heart that comes from the constant stress…
Stop Everything
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Betty cat sidles up Shoves her way in Lolls under my firm pressure Kneading my gut. Telling me with toenails uncut… Stop working, stop everything– Make more… Make more love.
Listening: “The Water Child” by Edwidge Danticat
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Ours is an immigrant existence, here in America, whether we want to admit it or not. This morning I am thinking about Haiti, which of course we’ve most of us pushed to the back of our minds because we are thinking about Egypt. This morning I am thinking about Haiti because I am listening to…
The Beginning of Gone
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Larry was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, He’s at the beginning of the journey toward the end. Yeah, I mean, they’ve given him the magical pill, but there aren’t any guarantees. Well, just that one guarantee. Larry’s been making art that evolves from nature for a long time. He’s put the essentially impermanent into…
The Swimming Lesson
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Our town has a big indoor pool, circa 1943, that offers the world’s cheapest swimming lessons, for all ages. This is most excellent for us since we have 152 kids living at our house (Note: for those “interested parties,” who print out my blog for so-called legal reasons, please read the definition of hyperbole, as…
AROS 5
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The friend is A spring in the Trampoline which– If you are willing To risk the bone crunch And the stomach lurch– Can send you flipping and flying.
Being Inside the Box
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What’s the opposite of thinking “outside the box?” My answer isn’t what you’d think. Come on and read it in a guest post over here at Shiny Bits of Life. Thanks again to Paul for the space to think at his space.
On Rivers of Stone
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Tomorrow I start teaching again which would normally make me feel as though I am lost to free time for a few months. But, I love teaching. And I love my tutoring job, and I love the time I spend with my students and colleagues on campus, where, for the few peanuts tossed to me,…
AROS #2
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The one I least expected — number one son, The boy with “Fidget” tattooed On his soul — Stayed still like a breathing boulder In our silent meditation.
