Birthright
“Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I …
Appalachian Melancholy
I am preparing to participate in a gathering commemorating the life and work of Kathryn Stripling Byer, whose teaching, poems, and spirit will resonate in these hills for many decades …
Dance with Me
Each summer the mountains here resound with music and dancing. In case this sounds familiar, I’ve written about this before. Folkmoot dancers from around the world come to our little …
Go Forth in Joy
From time to time my interest in prayers and litany for worship has led me into song, at least the words if not some efforts at a melody. Scott Taylor, …
Pay Attention
As I was working over my recent poems I became more aware than ever that they arise from the simple act of paying attention. If I’m asked again about what …
The Great River
Here the Rio Grande is dry a hollow bone without the marrow a sleeping body without blood waiting patient as the ceaseless wind blowing tumbleweeds …
The Heritage of Mata Ortiz
Las Cruces is in America’s Borderland with Mexico. We are staying, in fact, in Old Mesilla, where the Gadsden Purchase was signed that defined the geographical border between the two …
Petroglyphs at Three Rivers
Images of lizards birds sheep stuck full of arrows suns and faces …
O Sacred Head
In the Organ Mountains the head of a canyon often weeps among the desolated trees. It’s a sacred place where the earth’s ribs wounded by …
A Liturgy from the Roundtable Gathering
As close readers of this blog site already know, I gather every month with about fifteen other people at a round table for a time of circle conversation, prayer, song, …
Black Holes Exist
As I try to orient myself to the new political realities before us, I find myself diving beneath the waves of political analysis and commentary to deeper levels. I have …
That November Day
That November day a robin heading south struck the window full force flying at the tree in the glass fell still upon the leafy deck. When I went out to …
How Many More?
How many children more must we sacrifice to Great God Gun? How many more must die to feed the greed of Smith and Wesson, Remington, and …