An icy balm for a weary spirit
Ice covers the edges of the creek, a frosty blanket for rocks and logs. Shiny smooth in some places, clear as glass in others. Cracks, energized by the sun into...
The world is on fire
A flower blooms The sun shines Earth keeps spinning. Chest rises Chest falls Breath comes. This is not denial, but the pulse of life persisting persisting despi...
What does the natural world provide for me?
Now that it’s officially Fall, I’m drawn once again to the reds and oranges of leaves preparing to let go of their trees. I can’t just watch f...
Morning
Birds chirp. A squirrel yips. The wierwierwier of a fly. A moth flits by the stair rail. Sunlight creeps forward. Soon, I’ll no longer be in shadow. I com...
Winter, Spring, Summer…Release
Fall is coming! Yesterday, I hiked from Snowbasin to the Ogden Canyon overlook. About a mile in, a breeze rustled the tops of the Aspen trees. Stopping to liste...
Waiting for Rain: A Poem of Dis-membering and Re-membering
Waiting for Rain Little ballerina girlForgetting her bodyFlyingBendingSwaying A magnificent tree A ray of light Grace Beauty Beautiful soul Taken away by the mu...
Glimpses of Self in Granite and Bronze
On May 3, 2023, I visited Vigelandsparken in Oslo, Norway with my moms and grandmother. The sculpture park houses Gustav Vigeland’s life’s work, inc...
Birthday Letter, 2007: I wanted us to be parents
On a second reading, I found, tucked near the end of the first handwritten page, two lines that prickled with the static of a new dilemma. Sixteen years ago, th...
Birthday Letter, 2006: The Possibilities of Stolen Moments
Had I strayed or simply followed the river? I couldn't let myself down, so I let go of trying to force my life into a box to instead float with the current of m...
Birthday Letter, 2005: A Shout Seventeen Years in the Making
Even then, I felt the pangs of potential conflict between the academic path I'd chosen and my creative writing instincts. Although I'd chosen academia, I gave m...