Windhovering
the writing of Jerry Windley-Daoust
Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that we may feel again their majesty and power?
Annie Dllard
New Words
The Healing Power of Old-Fashioned Phone Calls
The humble voice call may just be the premier venue for rich (and healing) conversations. Every Sunday since things shut down for the coronavirus emergency, I have been taking an hour or two to connect with far-off friends and family. … Read More
Spring Harvest
A poem. I have come here to harvest humusfrom the rotten bottom of the compostI left by the apple tree last fall. Raking away the shrouding cover of dry leaves reveals the dark heart of newborn earth. Leaning into the spade, I slice through the … Read More
Real Men Wear Their Babies
I should have known why my toddler daughter and I kept getting sidelong glances from the three tough-looking guys who were fishing at the end of the municipal pier. After all, it’s not every day you see a 6′ 7″ … Read More
If Only the Romans Had Played Basketball
Sunday afternoon in January,and the YMCA is full of boysdrumming brown basketballsagainst the shining floorand launching themin languorous arcsat red-rimmed hoops. The boys run, reach,and leap,throwing themselves skyward:they rise like egretsand land like yearlings,long limbs circling roundto snag spinning ballsfrom … Read More
Winona Ryder’s Super Bowl Ad Missed the “True Winona”
Her ad about my hometown was fun, but she should come back for the annual gathering of Native Americans and locals. Winona Ryder came to my hometown to find herself last month. Actually, she came here to shoot a Super … Read More
A Meditation on Standing Still
Any square foot of Earth is worthmore than all the snow-white Moon;why, this spot on which you standis crowded and crammed with the memoryof seeds and stones, blood and bones, birth and breath, and yes, not a little death;and the footprints of … Read More
Axis Mundi
So, if you would be a Saint,by which I mean that S-Tstands stoutly before your name;and miracles multiplylike dandelions springingwild from your incorrupt heart;and your wise eyes stare star-likefrom icons, your head haloedon silver platters of paint;and we remember your … Read More
The Fascinating Future Life of Anna Q. Fox
A raging blizzard. A mysterious visitor. And the strangest birthday gift ever…the autobiography of her future self. Anna should not open the door for the beautiful woman in black. How many times have her parents warned her against opening the … Read More
Leaving Ransom
Ransom was so small that the state highway department noted its existence only by the SPEED LIMIT 25 sign on the way into town and the SPEED LIMIT 55 sign on the way out. Lacey was on her way out, … Read More