the rain stoppedjust before I woke upand opened the back doorto find fresh-washed sunshinedustless leavesand a brand new daysplashing barefootin the puddles now I am out in the darkso the dogs can makeone last circleof a yard they knowby heartso we can go to sleepwhile a brand new nightsoaks itselfinto the soil Peace,Milton
Here is the manuscript of the sermon I preached this morning at Pilgrim UCC here in Durham. For many of us, text messaging is a part of life. There’s much of what comes with sending texts that works for me. I like being able to send and receive messages that don’t require I answer the…
On an afternoon he will not rememberI watched a little boy follow his feet along the brick walkway, caught in the cracks —in the mystery of the moss and thepull of the pattern on his eyes not yet three feet off the ground. The sunlooked over his shoulder like a friendas he stooped to touch…
We talked about miracles at our church Sunday, as did most folks who follow the common lectionary since the Gospel passage was about Jesus feeding the five thousand. Ginger asked a group of us to help pantomime the scripture as she read it; our drama included passing bowls of Pepperidge Farm rainbow goldfish throughout the…
I found out this morning that the brother of a college friend was killed in the theater in Aurora, Colorado. He was there with his two daughters; they survived, but he did not. The connection doesn’t change how I feel about the killings, or how I ache for those who lost their lives or lost…
It was a little after eight when the audiologist came out into the waiting room to get me. I followed her back to the room where we had sat the day before and I listened to her tell me about what could be done to compensate for my hearing loss. We looked at different kinds…
A couple of years ago, I started noticing changes in my hearing. When it came time for my yearly physical exam, I asked my doctor about sending me to an ENT and also to an allergist, since I have yet to find a season to which I am not allergic in North Carolina. His nurse…
A number of years ago a woman named Martha, who went to school with me at Nairobi International School (NIS) when we were both in ninth grade, contacted as many of us as she could and compelled us to get together again. The invitation was too good to turn down: I had not seen most…
“Until I met you, I would have been unable to name the transformation that was taking place. Today, at my late age, I name it — the fusion of love.” — John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos bejeweled I have spent the afternoon in Old Havana(the sandwich shop, that is)with my…
for fireflies, while we sit in the darkafter another evening of almosts hasfallen all around us, all around us for a walk, since the storm that was almosta hurricane has done little more thanthreaten to bring rain, to bring rain to write a poem, you said as we walkedknowing it would do me good to…