religion

Give us this day our daily birds

  Poem in Thanks by Thomas Lux   Lord Whoever, thank you for this air I’m about to in- and exhale, this hutch in the woods, the wood for fire, the light—both lamp and the natural stuff of leaf-black fern, and wing. For the piano, the shovel for ashes, the moth-gnawed blankets, the stone-cold water […]

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Aloha, Walt!

  “This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat […]

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Thanksgiving break

If I had any sense I’d be in the kitchen right now, chopping and endlessly washing mixing bowls and spatulas. Instead I’m sitting at the computer. I’ll pay for it tomorrow with panic and exhaustion, but meantime, here’s a few poems for Thanksgiving.   At the grocery store I left Czeslaw Milosz’s”Encounter” in an empty […]

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Sisterhood of the Traveling Onion

The Travelling Onion by Naomi Shihab Nye   “It is believed that the onion originally came from India. In Egypt it was an object of worship —why I haven’t been able to find out. From Egypt the onion entered Greece and on to Italy, thence into all of Europe.” — Better Living Cookbook   When […]

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Sex ed for poets

The Beginning “Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?” the baby asked its mother. She answered, half crying, half laughing, and clasping the baby to her breast- “You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling. You were in the dolls of my childhood’s games; and when with clay […]

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may 21

Life by Grace Paley Some people set themselves tasks other people say      do anything       only live still others say oh  oh     I will never forget you     event of my first life I taped Paley’s poem to a post in front of a doomsday truck down on the national mall about a month ago.  Swarms of […]

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A blue iris in autumn

Praying by Mary Oliver It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which […]

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