Anarchist for Love
Why not be an anarchist for love?
Explode as gently as a rose.
Can Krishna's sky be scrawled on a wall?
Does Mary appear in a fractal of shattered glass?
The face of chaos, like the face of...
Goodbye, Gluttony! Dispatch from a Contemplative Thanksgiving
Breaking the tradition of feasting, with or without family, I attended my first contemplative Thanksgiving last week in Boulder, CO. Despite my excitement at the concept, the brainchild of a fellow on Meetup.com, anxiety...
Spring Rituals and Lessons for Writing (and vice versa)
Spring offers the possibility of renewal, and many spiritual rituals have this idea at their center. The secular culture, too, embraces spring with the rite of cleaning, a chance to remove clutter and air...
Classical Literature, the Gods, and Metaphysical Desire
In December I finished teaching a course on classical myth and literature for undergraduates. We read a variety of texts and from a variety of time periods. Among the works we studied were The...
What’s in Your Heart to Say? by Rick Hanson Ph.D.
What’s in your heart to say?
The Practice:
Speak truly.
Why?
It’s been said that the most powerful tool for physical health is a fork (or spoon), since the choices you make with it determine the good or...
Theatre of Dreams
The sun is my spotlight
that One in the royal digs
guides its way
But no one knows I'm in it
no one is clapping
because surprise
you're in it too!
So let's put on a good show
for our sparkling audience
to...
Ink and Blood
One of the tasks I set my advanced creative writing students is to have them, one student a week, find three poems to read and then unpack from whatever anthology I happen to be...
Dementia, Word, This
2013 Honorable Mention (Essay)
Grandpa told us flatly that he grew up at the base of Mount Everest. We all laughed, horrified. “Mount Rainier,” my uncle corrected him, after long silence. At my cousin’s wedding...
Turn Left at the Next Intersection
“Turn left at the next intersection”. What? Why is the GPS taking me that way? That’s not how I arrived here and I’m pretty sure that’s the wrong direction. Billions of dollars and years...