on the road to the resurrection I will pass a marker tomorrow eight months since dad died they’ve planted grass now my mother goes to water it not so long after easter even with an empty tomb nine months will come and go soon we’ll be talking years for now I will find solace in…
It may be April Fools’ Day, but it is also the beginning of National Poetry Month. Tonight, I want to help kick it off with three of my favorites. How To Be a Poet by Wendell Berry (to remind myself) i Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon…
Marcia Norman: a new name to me, as of last night when an excerpt from something she had written arrived in an email from a dear friend. He didn’t offer commentary; he just knew she had something to say that I needed to hear, which was true. Now I want to pass along some of…
I love it when a poem catches me by surprise. Most of the time, I do a pretty good job looking for them, but every so often (I’m happy to say) one shows up somewhere unexpectedly, ambushes me with alliteration or metaphor, and I am the better for it. Today was one of those days….
We’ve had a grey and somehow hopeful day here in Durham. As the rain stopped, people seemed ready to wipe off benches and chairs and fill the sidewalks and patios for supper. Ginger and I met friends for coffee that turned into dinner and I came home humming, ready to add to my on going…
a breeze blows across the front porch of the heart — the song settles like an old dog circling until it’s just right the sadness hangs like the ferns we will put up once it gets warmer the last aromas of dinner have followed us out and will find their way into the darkness once…
We gathered around our table for Thursday Night Dinner, which is a weekly occurrence at our house. We have a fairly regular group around the table, along with others who come occasionally, to eat and talk and laugh and be friends. For me, it is a chance to go exploring the culinary landscape to see…
The end of March carries much significance. These are the days of March Madness when we watch basketball more than any other time of year. These are the days that mark at least the promise of Spring. These days are the gentle base path to Opening Day of the baseball season. And these last days…
Today was a quintessential Durham Day. I started by dropping off cookies at Cocoa Cinnamon where I met Sarah, a member of our church, to talk about a fundraising dinner I am going to cater this summer for her nonprofit organization. Then I went to lunch with Leon, who owns Cocoa Cinnamon along with his…
I have walked with a limp all day my ankle bandaged, cane in hand, no great story — I sprained it with one simple step off of a crumpled concrete sidewalk; the same ankle I turned twice carrying our sick dog down the stairs a few years ago, and then again missing the last marble…