Hello hello, no, I've not forgotten the oft disremembered NA PO MO. Beginning slowly, as I did last year, I allow myself each day only the number of words in the calendar day and a photo. The first three days follow: SCRIPTORIUM (April 1)(thank you Lynne)* SIMPLE SENTENCES(April 2)* MAKING A PROMISE(April 3)*     ... read more

Shock of curly hair, braided, hangs into tears. All gall and fury, the baby scrambles over her mother, leans in close to the vacant face and picks at the closed eyes. Curled into typhoid,Mama lies on dirt and meager grass, the woman barely breathes. Feel her fever. Yanking limp arms, Baby bawls and searches her blouse for a breast. ... read more

Black skinned Margaret, calls me Susieas if I am family, takes me to her field. Rake and hoe,she’s pried open the earth with hands and sweat,taken the magic of seeds and  planted half an acre.I step through her verdant garden, mud weighing down my shoes, while Margaretwhispers secrets about a stick, dry woodslid in next to the seedling, poked ... read more

The tenor begins in the garden,climbs the vineto the birds,And follows the hollow bonesof flight. We call:Higher! Go Higher! * Tomorrow morning I leave for Africa. We work with Spring of Hope International (www.springhope.org ) providing holistic community development.  Spring of Hope International's goal is to empower our Kenyan brothers and ... read more

    Words Switch Sides all the Time   Close your eyes and imagine a simple termlike water. Isn’t water good—after a thaw, stunning, a rushing baptism of beauty—but wait, doesn’t good signify a spar with the eternal  summer heat, when, as one-sided as the word thirsty,redemption finally falls from the sky?   *   ... read more

We pray.Answered.Perplexing perspectives. * ... read more

THE WAY OF PRAYER Dreamily floating,adrift on an updraft,a grocery bag catches the car antennae, crumpling instantly, then furiously flailing, bicker and thrash, flogging itselfall panic against glass, but it calms when I slow,glide into the garage it releases a sigh,as if caught on a breeze the gentle scent of home. Shhh…quiet, tiptoe ... read more

I learned snow:a soft fall that builds up. I learned dirt:calling your hair ribbon mine. I learned sun:a beating down that makes things grow. I grasp the tremble of beauty:sitting palm to palm through months of cancer. Giving came easy:when everything had been taken away. I learned love:because you forgave me.   *   ... read more

  Child arise, stir the glitter of motes till sun turns red, but gather the grey,under your arm, that amazing weight measures pain and slows time. It defines hope. * ... read more

  Pain is a glass angeldirecting the soul,a glint of fire, when the heel comes down... small tinks scattered on the pavement… so you stop. *  One Stop Poetry ... read more

Skin completely covers us with feeling, a soft gauze to hold us in and hold back small leakages: both comforter and comforted. *   ... read more

The heart has it’s own nervous system, developed before the brain's nervous system— a few weeks after conception, heart cells beat. *     ... read more