Category Archives: poetry

The first breath

scented with humanity – the particulates of life – held for what seemed like eternity, let loose at last (his mother, astonished at the audacity of her body, gasped) with the force of a singular creation, splitting the skies, setting … Continue reading →

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Solstice

This poem first appeared at Bearings Online, a publication of the Collegeville Institute, at last year’s winter solstice Solstice At the abyss of the yearthe sun is silent;but in the bleak midwintersomething shiftsA fearful hope, homunculus,wakes the woman: lightbeyond the … Continue reading →

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Magnificat

Her wisdom undoes arrogance,
the thrones of power are dust underfoot.
My God, my spirit sings your praise;
my soul sings out your holy Name. Continue reading →

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Pine

They strew palms before the hooves of a donkeylike candy beneath the wheels of a slowly-moving car. My God has laid before me a path of pine needles,and will I hesitate to cry Hosanna?

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Currents

Looking to a goose feather floating on the surfacefor a landmark is rank foolishness; yet its inconstancy may be no greater thanthe line of seagulls ranged along the rocksnor the white-capped waves,the deck-chaired people on the sand, even the lake … Continue reading →

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Undertow

Ripping tides, throwing horses, hurling seabirds to the sky, thrashing rock into sand, wrecking the abandoned homes of limpets and clams, reducing it all to grit and foam, beaching itself in exhaustion, receding; the sand dries, the rock stands and … Continue reading →

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Friday

Breaking open pistachios by the Friday fire, pitching shells toward the pit. I wonder whom the meat of casements that arrive empty fed. Others refuse to open, peeling back my thumb nails; I surrender, hurl them to the fire. A … Continue reading →

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Walking on water

Walking on water: skipping faith like pebbles … Continue reading →

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A midweek prayer in the middle of the night

Flying dark with the bats, I send out prayers,
trying to locate God by their echoes. Continue reading →

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Preaching Pentecost

More than 100,000 people have died in the US of COVID-19.
Nearly 360,000 people have died from the disease worldwide. Close to 6 million cases have been confirmed overall.
George Floyd died after saying, “I can’t breathe,” as a police officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Continue reading →

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