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Catholic

Richard Chess

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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

April 2016

April 22, 2016

Caution: National Poetry Month

How do you know if it's a poem? Maybe it’s a month, a month-at-a-glance, many...

April 04, 2016

Choose Life, North Carolina

This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses: I have set...

March 2016

March 17, 2016

Changing Positions: A Meditation for Campaign Season

(With help from Donovan, D. T. Suzuki, Qingyuan Weixin, Wallace Stevens, democracy, REM, Bonnie Raitt,...

February 2016

February 18, 2016

Everyone’s Waiting for the Victory Song

Everyone knows what happened. Everyone lifts a steaming spoon of cinnamon oatmeal to their lips....

February 12, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Sabbath” by Dan Bellm

Sabbath as beloved bride and queen: familiar tropes in Jewish liturgy and thought. Now, thanks...

January 2016

January 26, 2016

What Shall I Know at the End of My Days?

When I come to the end of my days, what shall I say I know...

January 07, 2016

My Luxury, My Privilege

Though the Dalai Lama has yet to use a computer, the 1990s “Think Different” ad...

December 2015

December 07, 2015

After a Thanksgiving Feast

I carry my failure with me. My embarrassment. My shame. It grows. It sets me...

November 2015

November 19, 2015

My Wish for My Students

Only this I wish for my students: this semester, I hope you will learn to...

October 2015

October 28, 2015

Sonia Sanchez Made Me a Jewish Poet; Rhonda Magee Helped Make Me Whole

Black. Muslim. American. Woman. Poet. The languages she spoke. The ground on which she stood,...

September 2015

September 28, 2015

My Days of Awe, 5776

Impatience. Anger. Wastefulness. Restlessness. Desire. Haughtiness. Greed. Judgement. Pride. § I’ve been paying...

September 04, 2015

For the Newlyweds

May you have the courage to let go of everything you know about yourselves—everything you...

August 2015

August 10, 2015

What Is the Future?

It’s the end of summer in the academic South, and I’m working on syllabi for...

July 2015

July 27, 2015

The Mystery and Terror of Retirement

The day after I let my wife know that we had enough money to pay...

July 07, 2015

Morning Prayer and The New York Times

Summer morning routine: a cup of Awake tea, the Opinion page of The New York...

June 2015

June 15, 2015

His Murderer and His Keeper

Some days I can’t remember: Am I Abel or Cain? Blackberry soda in the afternoon...

May 2015

May 26, 2015

Self-Hating Jew: A Love Story, Part 1

In response to “Never Again: Netanyahu’s Holocaust Cliché,” a recent post of mine on Good...

May 05, 2015

When We Die

A text from a friend: “What do you believe happens when we die?” She’d recently...

April 2015

April 16, 2015

Make It Old: A Wedding Anniversary Epithalamion

In the beginning was a wedding. The ceremony began with light. The ceremony included the...

April 01, 2015

Never Again: Netanyahu’s Holocaust Cliché

In the air, on the air, tunneling through cables, conquering newsrooms, occupying the mouths of...

March 2015

March 13, 2015

Receiving “What Is”

With gratitude and apologies to Peter Cole I would like to share this poem with...

February 2015

February 19, 2015

After the Killings in Chapel Hill

It’s less than forty-eight hours since Craig Stephen Hicks shot and killed three Muslim students...

February 06, 2015

My God Is Better Than Yours

What a miracle! They had been freed, the Israelites, from Egypt, but moments after they...

January 2015

January 26, 2015

Is My Truth Your Truth?

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of...

January 08, 2015

Girl Meets God in the Classroom, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. On the first day of my class “Spiritual Autobiographies: Theirs and Ours,”...

January 07, 2015

Girl Meets God in the Classroom, Part 1

I had used Lauren Winner’s Girl Meets God once before in class, an honors freshman...

December 2014

December 08, 2014

Murder in the Synagogue

When I see him, I don’t see Israeli. I see Jew. Like the other men...

November 2014

November 19, 2014

Trouble Called Again Last Night

Trouble called again last Thursday night. The number illuminated in the landline phone's small window....

October 2014

October 28, 2014

The Trouble with Time

They talk. They talk to. They talk about. God. Please, God. Dear God. Thank you,...

October 01, 2014

Who Lives? A Meditation for the Days of Awe 5775

“And who by fire, who by water, / Who in the sunshine, who in the...