Ophelia

Earth dogged

what is the time between new years called? that floating time between sunpath and the last pass of the moon? when do you wish, and what for? and when do you sweep the floors? when do you wear all of your luckiest things? and do your ancestors know where to find you this side ofContinue reading “Earth dogged”

This yellow

Oh, tyrant: this yellow is a kind of gold you’ll never attain – you’ll never glint in a sun the color of your skin.

Wrack and blight

I am trying hard– TRYING TO –see in shades of græy,but all I have isa vision of blinding starlight,and all around it– in lush bolts –glittering darkness.

This is an apple

sour apples – she sliced them for me, a snack – large slices, on a yard sale saucer. tough-skinned and green, no blemish, no spot, they burned their way down on an empty belly. early you learned there’s no puckering no squinting no faces – this is sweet, she said: this is an apple. youContinue reading “This is an apple”

“Canceling” the sacred little things

Perhaps if we’re offended that all our sacred things are now under scrutiny, we have too many sacred things. A quick glance over our internal curio cabinets reveals a bevy of fools’-gold calves. Sacred little things we couldn’t stand to admit are tarnished, because what would that say about their collectors?

Toxic Evangelicalism was perfect for my unhealthy soul

For years, I was afraid to ask God for a better heart. I was certain that, if I did, God would take something from me. If I asked for patience, I was certain I’d get suffering. If I asked to become kind, I was sure God would put in my path people who would test me. If I asked to love obedience, I believed God would deliver hardship. If I dared to ask for gratitude, for humility, for a Christ-like heart…

Why we can’t imagine anything better than white supremacy

I think our cultural imagination works like this, too. If we convince ourselves that we can only have safety at someone else’s cost, then we also cannot imagine racial justice without the suffering of white people. We cannot imagine power-sharing without the subjugation of the powerful.

March 2021: Solidarity Embrittles Empire

Empire was watching on that day, two thousand years ago, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem under a banner of peace. And empire is still watching today. This Palm Sunday is another theatrical call to us. Our times are not easy – and they never are.

January 2021: In Case of Abundance

That was the leavening of love, or maybe the mathematics of the divine. Like a net, we are as strong as what we choose to weave together. And the consistency of this community fabric is not in its thread count, not in our numbers, but in our strength and our daring love.

November 2020: Nonetheless

How we heal is how we choose to live. If captivity has not yet ended, then we must figure out how to be liberated anyway. How to liberate one another anyway.