“To a Pig” I’ve watched you now a full 50 secondsNibbling on that piece of cornSnout like a boat in your grub.Then what joy awaits you when you see a soggydonut on a pancake. This farm is mine, my father’s pigs,My uncle’s silos, my mother’s barns.Come often to me, fear no pork,here lodge as in […]
Read moreToday is my father’s birthday. I would post some pictures, but the computer on which we store them isn’t quite cooperating with us these days. I would write some tales– and rest assured, I have many– but my state of mind isn’t ready to unfold something worthy of the auspiciousness of this occasion. Alas, these […]
Read moreI lost my voice Entirely today. Or at least, Almost Very Nearly. There’s little to nothing of it left now, and what I have will go unheard because, I’ve decided, I won’t speak aloud for the rest of the day. That were the thing I should have done today, I know, but my students have […]
Read moreHow can it be? So early in the school year? Ugh. Ew. I Don’t Like This. It came upon me suddenly, at the tail end of our first Monday in school. We’d had our day, and been to the store, and I was making dinner. And somewhere between getting out the rice cooker and adding […]
Read moreI’ve really been thinking about it for awhile now. I was thinking about it, in fact, when I was getting my hair cut a few weeks ago. I even mentioned it to my wonderful hairdresser– and this is not the first time, either. But both times– this most recent time and also back in May– […]
Read moreWhen the light is getting low at the end of the day, and there isn’t really a breeze to speak of, but then you notice that there is one, because of the leaves. And the leaves are just twisting quietly on their stems, independent of each other– not like when the wind is strong and […]
Read moreTake these hands And lift them up For I have not the strength to praise You near enough See, I have nothing I have nothing without YouAnd take my voice and pour it out Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found For I have nothing I have nothing without YouAnd all my […]
Read moreI walked late into my Sunday school class last weekend, in time to find a roomful of over fifty people sharing, one by one, a highlight of their summer. As I sat listening to the brief and happy stories of various vacations, I mentally panned through the days that filled my last three months. So […]
Read moreIt was her first sleep-over invitation, forcing us to confront the line we had drawn some time ago: Absolutely No Sleep-overs Until You Are Eight Years Old. By all accounting, she is seven. Okay, seven and a half, but Still. She is Not Eight. Yes, the invitation came. A birthday party sleep-over with a very […]
Read moreI have a new favorite word: archipelago. Just say it. Try it. Go ahead. (You have to say it Out Loud, Silly.) (Quietly, if you’d like.) See?
Read more