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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

September 2018

September 28, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Bird on Knee”

Like Emily Dickinson, Bray describes hope as thing with feathers, “an eastern phoebe.” Turning on...

September 26, 2018

The Stars of the Earth Cry Out

Last night, as I walked on the road that leads me home, I saw a...

September 24, 2018

Swallowing My Pride

I lost it at the dentist's office the other day. I was there with my...

September 21, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Ordinary Time”

According to the Church’s liturgical calendar, this is the twenty-fourth week of Ordinary Time, the...

September 20, 2018

Beginner Ballet

I hobbled into beginner ballet at age thirty-six, late for my first class, whirring between...

September 19, 2018

Leonard Cohen’s Holy and Broken Hallelujah

My first “Hallelujah” was sung by Rufus Wainwright in Shrek. I was a preteen and...

September 17, 2018

Tune in to Great TV Tonight

The Emmys air tonight, and here at “Good Letters” we’re gratified that our bloggers have...

September 12, 2018

Emmy Watch: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

My annual family Christmas letter swelled from a single paragraph into a sixteen-page spread before...

September 05, 2018

Tahlequah’s Grief

On July 24, an orca calf died off the coast of British Columbia within thirty...

September 04, 2018

At the Table

1. The temptation is there. Every time my daughter rubs her elbow against it, the...

August 2018

August 31, 2018

Poetry Friday:
Your Face Has Always Been Peppered With Moles

Charleston’s poem is a piece of contrasts: youth and age, sugar and spice, consumption and...

August 27, 2018

Jesus in Disguise

My memory of last summer is filled with Jesus. Jesus in many guises behind the...

August 23, 2018

The Vision Will Not Disappoint

It is a miracle that we do not love; love is the watermark in the...

August 21, 2018

Meditations of a Library Assistant in the BS Aisle

As I shuffle through the stacks pushing my cart of books along, awkwardly favoring one...

August 14, 2018

Marital Anger and Icelandic Rock Spirits

The first time I threw something in a pathetic fit of anger, my husband and...

August 13, 2018

A Conversation with Welcome Wagon’s Vito Aiuto, Part 3

The Welcome Wagon’s Vito and Monique Aiuto released their first album, Welcome to the Welcome...

August 09, 2018

A Conversation with Welcome Wagon’s Vito Aiuto, Part 2

The Welcome Wagon’s Vito and Monique Auito are known for their endearing, lush, and earnest...

August 08, 2018

A Conversation with Welcome Wagon’s Vito Aiuto, Part 1

After years of holding intimate hymn-singing gatherings in their living room, Reverend Vito and Monique...

August 07, 2018

Here Is Where We Wait

This summer, I climbed the rotting steps to the hayloft of my family's barn to...

June 2018

June 27, 2018

The Summer I Wasn’t Attacked By a Shark

Jaws is released the summer I turn fourteen, and my friends and I spend every...

June 22, 2018

Poetry Friday: “I Loved You Before I Was Born”

In clear, resonate language, Li-Young Lee celebrates longing in his poem “I Loved You Before...

April 2018

April 13, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Sea Here, Teaching Me”

Moira Linehan’s powerful poem scarcely needs commentary; “The Sea Here, Teaching Me” becomes the experience...

April 11, 2018

The Problem with Spiritual Fruits

The band quit playing at church because our priest asked them to sing from the...

January 2018

January 11, 2018

Reynolds Price and Me: The Tale of Two Rhodes Scholars, Part 2

I found myself returning to the work of Reynolds Price in 2011, the year he...

January 10, 2018

Reynolds Price and Me: The Tale of Two Rhodes Scholars, Part 1

Reynolds Price slithered onto the American literary scene in 1962. “Just with his body and...

December 2017

December 29, 2017

Listening to My Life: 17 Listens for 2017

First, a note: I think this might be the last time I do this. If...

December 21, 2017

My Last Resort

I’m at the beach with my husband, wining and dining on the company dime for...

December 19, 2017

A Theologian Reads Karl Ove Knausgaard

My reading habits, I confess, aren’t literary. I probably lack the training and the gifts...

December 14, 2017

The Sentences of William H. Gass

Last week, one of my favorite authors, William H. Gass, died at ninety-three. He was...

November 2017

November 30, 2017

The Cost of Writing the Truth

I remember my mother used to go to bed for the day. The blackness of...