As a librarian—and now as an occasional bookseller, I have said to the people who approached me with frustration at not liking the book they recently read— Before you dismiss it entirely, consider that it might not be about the book…it might be about the moment. Keep your mind, eyes, instinct, open for the book…
Tag: God
A Bowl of Incense and a Spoon: A Poem
A Bowl of Incense and a Spoon With the good knife rescuedfrom a thrift store pegboard,The soup pot thurible is readyto incense the kitchen chapel.halve the onion, slice from the root,cross cut into a small dice.I settle my senses into thiswelcome ritual of prayer and blessing.Garlic: three cloves or four, depending,mashed into a paste with…
On One of Fifty-Four Thanksgivings: a Poem
I had occasion recently to reflect on a list of 54 Thanksgivings that I had written as a way to honour my birthday. Items from the full spread of decades made the list…Things that were good from the get-go (Being taught common-sense and trusted to exercise it)…and things now seen in retrospect (Learning, growth, and strength…
Christmas, 2023
At first I was imagining something new for this year…but then I thought about the liturgy and how we hear the stories of our faith told in cycles and spirals, circles and ever expanding circles. I keep returning to this poem on Christmas Day because it’s a message that isn’t getting old. It’s a message that moves…
Advent IV/ Christmas 2023
Merry Christmas, all…
The Comfort of Two Readings
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God… So begins the first reading of today’s liturgy and my first reading of the day… when I first read it, many different images all came to mind and heart. Some of them were from the news…the tents down the street, soldiers walking the streets in different…
Advent I, 2023
Since there is no fourth week of Advent this year, the last Sunday of Advent being Christmas Eve, I decided to start the series a little earlier this year. I’ve done this for…? Maybe twenty years? It is a way that I draw down and in for this season…and I’ve come to enjoy sharing them…
These are the Elements: A poem composed after Communion
Composed After Communion at Saint Andrew’s, 14 November, 2023 These are the elementsof earth and all withinand all before and what will be.We too are the elements, we who spark and shine, cleave, combust, create.When these, the bread, the wine,are taken in together as onewe know again the Great Becoming—All elements, one table,one Source, one awakening.We are each…
Consider the Lilies 