prose – Erdrich 3.11.2021

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. …

poem – Heeter 2.20.2020

Wild Grief by Chris Heeter Start up close and from the back side.Don’t reach for the long view yet.It’s too much to ask of your grieving heart. Look close up, to the silhouette of seed heads on Wild grass.Stand behind a sunflower, on the back side,where each extended petal glows with sunlight. When Wild grief …

poem – Hirshfield 11.28.2019

For What Binds Us by Jane Hirshfield There are names for what binds us:strong forces, weak forces.Look around, you can see them:the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,nails rusting into the places they join,joints dovetailed on their own weight.The way things stay so solidlywherever they’ve been set down—and gravity, scientists say, is weak.And see …

poem – Imsland 8.22.2019

Heavier by Rachel Imsland its heavier than it looksthis weight its heavier than it might seemno lesseningrather, the lesson its heavier than it appearsthis griefthis sadness its heavier than you thinkbe careful when you pick it upthen carry it with you its heavier

poem – Rilke 7.25.2019

Pushing Through by Rainer Maria Rilke It’s possible I am pushing through solid rockin flintlike layers, as the ore lies, alone;I am such a long way in I see no way through,and no space: everything is close to my face,and everything close to my face is stone. I don’t have much knowledge yet in griefso …

poem – O’Donohue 7.4.2019

BeannachtJohn O’Donohue On the day whenthe weight deadenson your shouldersand you stumble,may the clay danceto balance you.And when your eyesfreeze behindthe grey windowand the ghost of lossgets in to you,may a flock of colours,indigo, red, green,and azure bluecome to awaken in youa meadow of delight. When the canvas fraysin the currach of thoughtand a stain …