poetry
only steps away from the empty tomb and already we’re walking back to the cemetery alongside a friend who must bury his father most of our footsteps it seems are aimed toward the grave rather than away from it -- lazarus could tell you that we are like sheep
lenten journal
Most every year, I am struck by how hard the story must have been to live through the first time around when no one had any inking of Easter on Good Friday. Here’s how that idea came out tonight. by the time Jesus died most everyone had left him
lenten journal
Maundy Thursday is a disquieting day for me -- a cosmic juxtaposition of hope and despair that strikes on an intensely personal level. Here is how I put it into words. syrian war invades a campus that acts as a sanctuary the light shines in the darkness and the darkness
lenten journal
by now in most marches -- at least at this latitude Easter is made to look like a foregone conclusion new life springing forth in every bed and byway as though resurrection were as natural as daffodils but this year the dirt has stayed as cold as bones and the
lenten journal
we drove home at dusk from our day of errands and dreaming over coffee the sunset was hidden by the foggy veil that showed us only enough road to to keep us moving along every turn of the tires pushed back the curtain enough for another step as we talked
lenten journal
I am in Asheville, North Carolina staying with friends and will drive over the mountains to Nashville tomorrow for some book events. The evening has been filled with good food and conversation. here we are again old friends making new memories talk with your heart full And now I will
lenten journal
south of here the boys of summer are planting the seeds of spring thawing out their throwing arms weeding out all the errors they can practicing and pitching, stealing a little extra daylight each evening in a month they will head north (at least the ones I care about) along
lenten journal
My friend, Nathan Brown, is a poet and musician who was named the Poet Laureate of Oklahoma last fall. During December, as we dealt with the impending doom of the Mayan calendar, I dubbed him the Poet Laureate of the Apocalypse. He continues to be a good friend and a
lenten journal
Ginger and I went to the movie the other afternoon and as we were coming out of the film I mentioned it reminded me of a friend from Fort Worth who was a minister at another church whom I used to call in the middle of the afternoon and get
lenten journal
There are some nights I sit down to write what has been brewing all day, then there are others where I begin with a blank canvas and try to get quiet enough to see what ripens. Tonight's poem comes at the end of a busy day when I
lenten journal
I stood at the kitchen window and looked across the leftover dishes from last night’s dinner and out into the backyard because it was snowing free falling flakes the size of communion wafers dissolving as they hit the unfrozen ground ending their long lilting journey with nothing to show
lenten journal
My gift for Valentine’s Day -- along with a box of SpongeBob SquarePants chocolates -- was a trip to the Regulator to pick out a book. On the table of recent and notable books I found The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James