Wednesday, June 13, 2012


While walking back to the place where I am staying,
I was heckled by a raven hidden in a leafy treetop.
First she made a rattling sound,
like when I used to clothespin cardboard onto my bicycle spokes,
but I don't do that anymore.
Then she made a clucking sound,
like when I used to prod my horse into a gallop,
but I don't do that anymore.
Then she flew away, but I don't...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

 Photo: A leak window at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens, Vancouver BC. For light to leak in.

Hidden Grief
I'm in that dingy part behind the building,
between the chain link and the concrete wall,
where the pebbles and the weeds are scattered,
where the wind-blown bits of small trash fall.
And I walk in my secluded passage,
rough and narrow though it may be,
passing open doors and open windows
and I see them there. But they can't see me.

Friday, June 8, 2012


Because the shine!
If we could look at everyone as us, and not the other,
what kindness we would feel for all, what wonder we'd discover!
If we could let go of the wall between the lost and the pardoned
and lift forgiveness heavenward and soften hearts long hardened,
what love would flow, what tidal waves of joy would sweep among us,
and there could be enough to share, they wouldn't keep it from us.
If we could let go of the need for having all the answers
and for knowing we held all the truth in our exclusive dances,
how our hearts would open wide in welcome as we traveled,
a weaving pattern as we go, bright threads together raveled.
If we could raise our eyes and hearts and see God's arms are open,
accept forgiveness and extend the love for which we're hoping
to all the people in the world, and so become united,
be one close family in the wholeness for which we were created.
Because the shine.
There is the way that chooses sides, accepted and rejected.
It may be time for another way: God's love for all, reflected.
Because the shine!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Good EarthThe Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A young man becomes an old man. In the course of his life he experiences joy, sorrow, pride, shame, productivity and wastefulness, but he is always most fully himself when he is in contact with his land.
Halfway through this book I was inspired to go outside one evening and till a neglected part of my garden, and as my tiller broke the ground and the weeds and grass turned over and the rich aroma of the moist soil reached me, I thought, "Thank you, Pearl S. Buck, for inspiring me, and expressing that connection with the soil that is a part of so many of us."

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June 1
By taking on pain to the death
we carry those with us to glory
who cannot find their way.
Whether by cross or deprivation,
or some shocking cost we turn out pockets for
and lay with trembling fingers our last coin down,
those who need our wound as ransom call to us.
And love having redeemed ourselves,
for love we cannot refuse.

May 23
Today as I walked in the woods I wondered
why is God remote? why hidden from us, God's creatures?
Tonight as I sat reading in my house, I wondered
at the words of Chesterton: "...a divinity transcendent,
different from ourselves, a deity that disappears."
"That external vigilance...that we should watch and pray."
And if I find I cannot pray, surely that only frees me more to watch,
until my watch becomes my wait,
and I accept the both as my present calling.

(G. k. Chesterton, Orthodoxy; Psalm 46:10, 37:7, 27:14)
May 21
I lean my hands
and bang my head
on the wall that others leap over.
Where some soar high
I droop and sigh
weighed down by griefs and boulders.
Though some of us
are given wings to
reach beyond the stars,
there are those of us
leaning low but true
on the cornerstone of the building.

Ps. 18:29

May 20
It can't be easy knowing everything,
seeing beyond forever,
having to feel each stinging pain,
each blow of the hammer.
Where is the balance between the two,
the sides of joys and sorrows;
is the balm enough to cover
the hurt of countless tomorrows?
I used to imagine to please Him
would be worth the world I trod.
But now I would settle for trying
just to lessen the pain of God.
If by some small touch or gesture,
or some just worthwhile act
I might comfort the One of Sorrows,
I think I could rest with that.
 May 14
Looking up at the sky
stars went round and round
as I turned in the sand.
No answer was found.
As I pleaded to know
all that fell to my ears
from my upturned face
my unanswered tears.