When we finished the closing session of our mission trip last night with the folks from Beloved Community UCC in Birmingham, Alabama, one of our hosts suggested we move the gathering down the road to a local coffee shop/wine bar. We got there to find they were closing at nine and to discover the Crestwood…

I found them walking from Winchester High School one afternoon to meet Ginger at her church. A small handbill on the door of the Griffin Museum of Photography announced the showing of color pictures of the universe by David Malin. What I learned that afternoon, and in my subsequent trips with my English classes, was…

I posted this earlier today and then spent some time reading Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook, which led me to do a little revising. it was good he was so hard at workthere was much to do from where he stoodnext to the bags of candy while his mother browsed the stacksof cards and books…

Durham has a lot of good things about it, but a good independent radio station is not one of them. And so I spend my days in the kitchen listening to classic rock and hold the distinction of being the only one in the kitchen for whom the songs were my soundtrack for high school…

I only saw the words written,requiring me to infer tone;to assume either compassionor conceit; to decide if the poetmimed quotation marks whenhe said, “diminished capacity,” —or saints, for that matter —if he even said the words out loud. Either way, the phrase isfragrant with failure, infusedwith what might have been,what came and went,what once was…

I know I’ve already mentioned Woody Guthrie this week, but he comes to mind for me every Independence Day because he wrote my favorite song about America, “This Land is Your Land.” He actually wrote the song in response to “God Bless America.” Here is one of my favorite covers of the song by Bruce…

“It’s what’s inside the words,” she said;“Inside heart there’s an ear and there’s art.” After reading, I couldn’t help but lookfor words among the bread and vegetablesthat made up our simple supper last night,both of us finally home after daysthat felt longer than the time passed.I couldn’t find God in the green beans,or love in…

The words are Woody Guthrie’s; the voice is Ellis Paul’s. I pass them both along to you with gratitude. I didn’t promise you skies painted bluenot all colored flowers all your days throughI didn’t promise you sun with no rainjoys without sorrows, peace without pain All that I promise is strength for this day,rest for…

These are days that call for me to reflect, to hold my words and thoughts close, to share with those I can see in person, to let things ruminate and mature before they become public. There is no major crisis, no depression (thank God), nothing more than days that call me to listen more than…

there are days where lifeseems to stretch out like agreat plain, endless expansemelting into the horizon this is not one of those days today is a fresh amputeecut down to a stump of sadnessthe expected assassinatedwhile we slept and awakened to the now and the not here let us cling to each otherlike refugees like…