The day after Valentine’s Day one bouquet of roses rises tall on my kitchen counter (the long-stems). The shorter-stems reside on a refrigerator shelf, extending their life (shelf life?) and making me glad everytime I open the refrigerator door.
Mother shooed us into the cellar. I turned my pockets inside out and showed her my discoveries. While we waited for the storm to pass, my mother told us stories: saints’ bones preserved in crypts of faraway cathedrals; healers who told the future by throwing bones as if they were dice; and air-raid cellars in…
The earth is old. Nothing lasts. All life is kin. Different eyes perceive different worlds, and much remains hidden. Ours is an age of extinctions; ours are the hands of the destroyers. Grief and beauty are knotted together. Curiosity and imagination are fundamental human forces. So are fear and hatred, passion and compassion. None of…
In honor of the combination of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day week, I’m running a “Black Valentine” series to profile vibrant Black couples and individuals I’ve met in St. Louis. I met Linda and her husband Charles at a Kwanzaa celebration where she was showing her art. Since then, we’ve met several times in…
“We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful. Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the…
Philip and Carol Zaleski have done a marvelous thing in Prayer: A History…they have brought prayer to our doorstep and into our bedroom, back to the kneeling rug of childhood. From the book jacket: “This landmark book presents prayer in all its richness and variety throughout history, across traditions, and around the globe. Focusing on…
Mother died at 90 last May Day. It seems like an ocean of time and then, hardly any time at all. You can read more about my mother on the “Sightlines” portion of this site on the Sweet Little Dove page including: * Ruth Thompson Life Story * Mother’s Memorial Service And the poems: *Under…