This poem was written after a retreat at the Alcyon Center in Maine some years ago. Walking their outdoor labyrinth brought me this experience of how confusion and disintegration can be transformed when we simply focus on our next step, one at a time. As we enter into the turning point of the year, in … Continue reading Labyrinth
I've continued to send out my poems to online and print publications, and I'm thrilled that some of them have been published in the last few months. Here are links to poems you can read online: "Time Change" - poem in Amethyst Review "Mother" - a poem in The Way Back To Ourselves (previously published … Continue reading “A poem’s not a thing” – Some recent poetry publications
I'm delighted to announce that my poem "Geode" was published in Part II of the Winter Collection at Ekstasis, an online literary magazine conceived by the folks at Christianity Today as a kind of "digital cathedral." The collection is beautifully curated and designed, with a wide variety of voices and modes of experiencing the sacred, … Continue reading Poem publication in Ekstasis: Geode
Recently I had two poems published in the online journal Kosmeo, which is subtitled "Adorning the profession of the gospel through creative offerings." One of the poems, "What the Rich Young Man Said," was published in an earlier version on my blog here -- but I've revised is since then, because I keep thinking about … Continue reading Advent/Lent: A Poem
In the last few years, I started writing poetry again. I'd done it in fits and spurts since childhood, but was never really satisfied with my efforts. Then a personal crisis gave me a new impetus, inspiring me to produce one or even two or three poems a day, for several months. I found this … Continue reading A new writing (and publishing) impulse
My Summer in Other Languages project for 2022 is now over. I didn't do much, basically just reading one book in French ... but every little bit helps. I'd really like to get back to working on German now. I've actually been quite surprised and pleased that my conversational skills seem to have improved quite … Continue reading A poem in translation: The Rockface by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Some years ago I spent an Advent season studying the stories of people who were raised from the dead in the New Testament. All the healing stories raise so many questions for me -- I want to know more about the background of these special individuals, and what their experience might have been. I ended … Continue reading Talitha Koum: A Poem
The images in this poem were inspired by Goethe's "Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily," a mysterious story with great archetypal resonance. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to ponder such mysteries -- nothing is more wondrous than the power to gestate, bear and bring … Continue reading Mother: A Poem
Tradition links the rich young man who asks what he must do to attain eternal life with Lazarus of Bethany, who is raised from the dead by Jesus -- his final act before taking the path to Jerusalem and the cross. I wrote this poem after wondering for some time about how those two could … Continue reading What the rich young man said – a poem
Here's a poem I felt like sharing with you today. It was written after some meditative time spent with a geode (shown in photo) that sits nearby on my bookshelf as I write. In real life it's quite small, only about two and a half inches in diameter, but I love the sparkling world that … Continue reading Geode – a poem
