I pine sometimes for the wild and mournful melodyKeening through the mist. We reminisced about loons on our foggy lakeIn southern Nova Scotia Before adjourning to the hot porchTo await the strawberryMoon rise. Behind The Sonoran cityglow this night in June,Beyond a leafy, netted Silhouette of mesquites, a rim of a sphereAppeared, rosé and rounding Above the secant, tangent, then abandonedHorizon. Chatter and tobacco smoke driftedFrom the neighbor’s porch. Irrigation nozzles gurgled, spat,...
My friend Adam Bucko has written a beautiful reflection on our human capacity to imagine a way of life that revolves around solidarity instead of capital. He describes ours as a world “where profit overrides life.” As I grow older, I feel this more keenly. I have made very little profit in my life. I was a volunteer for thirty years. So now,...
Take a deep breath. What follows is not light. But neither are death and Resurrection. April is National Poetry Month in the United States. This year, it includes the final weeks of the Christian season of Lent, with Easter celebrated on April 20. Holy Week, the days immediately preceding Easter, overlaps Passover. April 24 is Holocaust...
In 1980, Poland's Solidarity movement became the first labor union in Soviet bloc countries. The "Solidarność" banner became iconic. In November 2024 United States citizens elected a president who relishes chaos and vengeance. My anguish over the suffering this administration’s wrecking crew inflicts leads me...
A source of joy is my discovery of Fix the News. Mainstream media still run...
The photo above shows Advent wreath candles, and we light the pink candle...
When I think of gratitude, pilgrims are not my first thought. Nor even my grandmother’s deliciously unhealthy Thanksgiving dumplings. Instead, I remember the voice of our old friend Bro. David Steindl-Rast, with its melodic Austrian accent. He insists that true gratitude can become a constant state of mind. It isn’t that I’m grateful for this...
I am a big fan of Mark Longhurst’s “The Holy Ordinary” posts on Substack. He shares his spiritual pilgrimage with intelligence and humility. Anyone aiming to live contemplatively can benefit from his work. I was moved recently by his discovery of Sabeel, an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement...
In our August 2024 Fire and Light podcast, we offer a guided meditation on a “soulscape” that changed your life. If you prefer reading to listening to a meditation, we post the reflection here. Take your time as you read; feel free to stop at any point and let your memory and imagination ponder,...
In the torpor of Tucson’s summer heat, it can be hard to think. I walk or bike along the Santa Cruz River at dawn, or even shoot hoops in the park. Then I hole up and focus on survival as temperatures soar. But here are three book reflections and some thoughts that simmer in my heat-muddled...