I’m sitting at the picnic table in my parents’ kitchen, the mess of art projects and nubbins of flowers picked by siblings and half-finished notebooks and Costco packs of food surround me. Walking down the hill this morning to make coffee cake before they left for church, I had to stop and soak in the…
I have been waiting impatiently for this day to come, and now it’s here and I can finally tell you what I’ve been working on for the past two months. Introducing! The Swan Children: Art Without Apologies. The Swan Children is a bimonthly online art gallery and magazine founded to curate and showcase the creative work produced by…
Spring arrives late this year. The cherry trees in front of my building already dropped their blossoms, suctioned to the pavement but I’m still wearing my wool coat in the mornings. “Dreaming of April” is my March song But she came and is slow to breathe life into the city this time. I don’t resent…
I overslept this morning. I’d set an alarm for 5:15 am so I could make the 7am Ash Wednesday service at my church in the city. But I woke up at my usual time instead. Sometimes waking up is the hardest thing for me, especially when my day-to-day life is in upheaval and so much…
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death. – T.S. Eliot, “Journey of the Magi” photo by Sweet Bee Photography Last year, I started writing this post. But life swallowed me up…
We hide our gazes in blue-lit boxes, hurtling into the dark, dutifully ignoring the scene if we pass daylight, sliding our glances away from the searing contact of other eyes. After my morning meditation of group isolation I rise to the fifth floor and wash the subway off my hands, Having passed through the brood…
I feel like I should have posted more this week. I know I wanted to write another Immodesty Rail post, and I wanted to tell you about the author readings and book signings I’ve been to this last month (Lorin Stein, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins). But it’s been an exhausting week, and some people took…
Previous posts in this series: Loving Your Food, Eating in Community, and Jesus Ate. For the benefit of my readers: I write this for Christians, with the understanding that communion is a sacrament and an essential, regular part of a healthy practice of faith and a healthy church. For my own part, I am of the…
This week has been for me a meditation on the Eucharist, thanks to some beautiful writings on it. Here are the highlights: From “Small, Good Things” by Casey N. Cep at The Paris Review: One way of understanding the sacraments, perhaps best articulated by liturgist Gordon Lathrop, is that simple things become central things. When Christians…
I’m pushing through today on ibuprofen and weak coffee Trying not to register spring’s appearance this morning for fear of feeling the life-beat vibrating outdoors. The sunlight shifted yesterday, and the sky removed her dressing gown If I ignore it, it never happened. I didn’t notice the smallness of your kiss, the withdrawing of your…