Maybe Washing Dishes Was the Most Important Work We Did
In this issue: Maybe Washing Dishes Was the Most Important Work We Did · The Liturgists Put a New Spin on Ecclesiastes · What I’m Working On · A Meditation on Standing Still
A Resurrection Worth Singing About, Even in the Storm
In the face of war, abuse, and sad throwing-up children, I believe in its happy ending Happy Easter, a few days late—or Merry Christmas might be more appropriate, given the wintery weather we’ve had here in the Upper Midwest the past few weeks. This newsletter is supposed to go out every Sunday, and I had…
So, Christ Was Murdered in Ukraine. And What Am I Supposed to Do with That?
In this issue: Christ Was Murdered in Ukraine · The Taming of the Mississippi · Micarah Tewers Makes a Dress from a Couch · Putting Down the Dog & Soaking Seeds · Benjamin Franklin’s Phonetic Alphabet
Why I Whistle
In This Issue Notes: Why I Whistle · New Words: I Once Walked Around My House Upside-Down · In Other Words: Mary Oliver and the Opportunity Cost of Writing Poetry · News: Potting Up the Basil and Tomatoes · Postscript: Ditching School to Whistle Get “Notes in Glass Bottles” in your inbox every Sunday. NOTE Why I Whistle Maybe it’s an act of defiance, or maybe it’s just…
I Once Walked Around the House Upside-Down
A poem based on actual events I once walked around the house upside-down,the ceiling fan sprouting like an alien flowerfrom a diamond-encrusted field of snow,coats craning on tippy-toe atop their hooks,slabs of books hanging from dark shelveslike bats thick in their caves, dreaming;and the frowny old man in the green painting seeming to smile now, standing…
The Virtues of Remote Desert Islands in the Age of Noise
In this issue
The Virtues of Remote Desert Islands in the Age of Noise + Into the Desert Once Again + The best Christian prayer books (for beginners) + Krista Tippett interviews Kate DiCamillo + Live with OSV: Imaginative Prayer + New Resources for Imaginative Prayer + The Real Notes in Glass Bottles
Into the Desert Once Again
If I’d been an Israelite at the time of the Exodus, I’m sure I would have been one of the cranky gripers and complainers; I know this because I don’t look forward to the season of Lent. Not at all. I like my sugar, caffeine, meat, chocolate, etc., etc. I get especially whiny on those…
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 coverof dry leaves reveals the dark heartof newborn earth.Leaning into the spade,I slice through the soiland lift it into the rusty wheelbarrow. The apple tree stands by,her wide boughs bespangledwith…
They’re at Home on the River
Like Huck Finn, these independent spirits have found a home (and a little adventure) on the Mississippi River. Soon as it was night, out we shoved; when we got her out to about the middle, we let her alone, and let her float wherever the current wanted her to. . .. Yonder was the banks…
A Truce for the Fourth of July
God knows, we’ve fought enough these past few years — but for one night, we make a truce. A poem. As darkness settles over the land,we gather above the wide river —some thousands of us Americanscome for Fourth of July fireworks. Our long shadows linger in the lastlight, entangling us with one another,and perhaps with…
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