Tonight, I felt this strong compulsion to meditate and pray. It’s great when the word is that clear and the word tonight was “consecrate” or “set yourself apart.” In the midst of my praying my thoughts drifted to little Iz. and his terribly confusing situation of being back with his grandmother, missing his adoptive parents… Continue reading some call it an elephant
gift from the wilderness
This year has been such a topsy turvy ride. But life is like that, sometimes you get signed up for classes you never thought you needed to take. I for one was thinking about all these good things happening right now in my life. And how sometimes when you’re great but the people around you… Continue reading gift from the wilderness
Geeking out on a Saturday night
I think writers are a special breed. Everyone writes. I get that. And some even go so far as to declare that as their profession (catch the slight nasal inflection upon the word “writer”) which is different in perception than being a reporter. There is something to be said for the drug of the craft.… Continue reading Geeking out on a Saturday night
Wilderness and song
Wilderness is unhabitable and somehow conjures up intrigue through the wildness that runs rampant. It is part of each of us- our story will have some wilderness threaded into it. The question is how to let its texture shape us- will it be like silken shantung with bumps that call attention away from the sheen… Continue reading Wilderness and song
days of grit
It could be because work has been a meat grinder this week or it could be the coming mai-lai of my birthday which usually is the beacon of so many things good, but this morning I chose to see it as the harbinger of doom that has become the US press and their constant devotion… Continue reading days of grit
collision of worlds
In the warm November evening of Friday, my friend T and I walked Market Street in search of cocktails. We found them (at Bong Su) but first in the darkness of the socially dimming sidewalk, a face emerged tethering me to my past. I pointed my index finger and bellowed, you! A man wearing a… Continue reading collision of worlds
A word about salt
Can salt lose its saltiness? I was pondering this tonight and did a quick google search. Lo and behold regular table salt has to be decomposed through electrolysis or diluted in water in order for the sodium and chlorine to separate. Am curiously interested in this possibility and glad I use kosher salt.
Quotable: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
“I think a good artist needs to be good human being. It’s difficult to explain that. I think that if you’re a good human being you have a better chance of being a good artist because I think good art is made of compassion. Compassion and empathy. And if you don’t have that you can… Continue reading Quotable: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
balm on monday eve
I have a friend whose father is dying. As our moms met in lamaze class, she constitutes as my oldest friend. I was always scared of water when I was a child. In my childhood photo album is a photo I have always appreciated. Terrified me with a face scrunched into a single cry am… Continue reading balm on monday eve
glass half full kinda gal
It’s 11 p.m. on a Friday night. I’m at home tethered to my computer. Revising poems is no small thing. Even the smallest tweak can be maddening. You want the cadence and the sense to all coexist happily. You want to be open to suggestion and know when to drop the eraser. It’s all a… Continue reading glass half full kinda gal
hero or foe
I spent the greater part of the evening toggling between work emails and poetry revisions. In the midst of disemboweling weak verse from the pencil scratches on the taped into my Moleskine revisions, I watched “Heroes.” The theme of this season centers around “Villains” and what its intent seems to be drawing out is there… Continue reading hero or foe
Upstate NY: On the road
I’m writing this at a checkered table deep in the Hudson Valley. Though darkness has swept over the house, today held moments of intense beauty. We drove up and down the winding backroads of the Woodstock area passing trees on fire in oranges and reds, yellows and greens holding onto the last shreds of summer.… Continue reading Upstate NY: On the road