I. If telling yourself this represents that Helps you for having a picture for your feeling Go ahead and do so: Take the aches and moans and spatter them onto the world Until you understand them properly. Afterward you’ll have a story to tell yourself, Because you found some truth Previously hidden away in the mess. Continue reading

I’ve written the first lines Of a million and one poems, With time only for beginnings, Half-finished thoughts and undeveloped dreams. I chase fresh starts, Looking for Perfect, For This Is IT. Instead I find Good For Now. But here, the sun is shining; The trees are shivering into salient green buds, And I think Continue reading

I wanted to be angry When you started work on the decayed hallways Lined with dim outlines of emptiness. Dust filtered down And the foundations shook; What a mess you’ve made. But this is the grace of sight: Not that I can see the cracks and breaks, But that through them I may glimpse the Continue reading

Currently: A paint chip, “English Channel”, From when we considered painting the living room Some version of navy blue. Previously: A gum wrapper; An envelope with a Polish return address; A strip of mint green ribbon; A ticket I didn’t buy, for a Corinne Bailey Rae concert Which I never attended. Once, a hair tie. Continue reading

I don’t remember the very first time I loved driving at night, But I recall an early July evening, When a phone call at 1am snapped me Out of self-pity and Took me and my car keys out the door In search of a gas station for supplies To help a friend stranded on I-495. Continue reading

Unto you this day is born a Savior. Born into a dark, silent night, The Light Of The World Rests not in heavens above, But in our gloom and in our dirt. Transfixed by my own darkness, I turn away from the glare — Turn away my heart and all my spare rooms. I leave him in the cold and Continue reading

I made a wedding cake last week, and I was grumpy the whole time. I was grumpy with it for taking up all my evenings in the first week of a very short December. Normally I love baking, and I love that I’ve been involved in creating so many wedding cakes. But I wanted to be Continue reading

Words Repeat I’ve been doubting peace On such a broken earth. And questioning goodwill toward men So wounded with sin. But perhaps it was peace Which permeated the prayer before our meal: Sinuous yet strong Enough to hold our hands Together as we stood In a haphazard circle around the kitchen. And maybe it was goodwill As we Continue reading

Some friends of mine recently released a gorgeous rendition of the hymn “He Leadeth Me.” I can’t recommend it enough: I’ve been listening to it on repeat, not only because the music is heart-aching in how beautiful it is, but because the words of this hymn are true and yet entirely foreign to my unwieldy and Continue reading