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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

October 2018

October 03, 2018

The Lost Goodbye

You've been gone for only hours In a casket made of wood When no one...

September 2018

September 03, 2018

My Grandfather’s Garden

My grandfather’s death came surprisingly quickly, and I witnessed his rapid decline over the three...

August 2018

August 24, 2018

Poetry Friday: A Quick Interpretation of the Sixth Seal

End times? Friends in the evangelical world talk seriously about the Rapture. Our world is...

August 22, 2018

The Modern Predicament

You might stumble into a lengthy life through no particular fault of your own. You...

August 20, 2018

Doorways to Death

My house has doors built for death. When my husband and I first bought it...

July 2018

July 17, 2018

Fast Food Funeral Procession

The line lurched forward one vehicle at a time, halogen halos radiating from headlights. Although...

May 2018

May 24, 2018

Between Death and Resurrection

And should you glimpse my wandering form out on the borderline Between death and resurrection...

March 2018

March 29, 2018

Saint Death and Easter

I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. The voice was low, lifeless....

March 08, 2018

In Praise of Albuquerque

The sun was high in the sky. Midday, late July. The light was washed out....

February 2018

February 23, 2018

Poetry Friday: “The Preacher Addresses the Seminarians” by Christian Wiman

I once met a beer-guzzling goat like the one in Wiman’s poem. His name was...

January 2018

January 26, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Graveyard Prayer”

Robert Cording’s prose poem reminds me of my late Aunt Mary, who, at roughly the...

January 24, 2018

The Shore after the Storm

The sun rises over the ocean where I live, two miles from the Atlantic. You...

November 2017

November 14, 2017

Remembering Father George

My priest has died. Or rather, in Eastern Orthodox terminology, he has reposed. He has...

September 2017

September 22, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Cellar Door”

I love poems that stitch together memories from opposite ends of a lifetime, connecting them...

August 2017

August 30, 2017

My Tears Had Names

Guest Post The phone rang. My newborn must have been asleep—I have no recollection of...

August 25, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Love’s Alchemy”

The first thing I’m drawn in by in Margaret Rabb’s “Love’s Alchemy” is the lusciousness...

August 17, 2017

Life, Death, Bread, Host

Guest Post by Laura Bramon This post originally appeared at "Good Letters" on August 18,...

August 08, 2017

The Iron Cross, Part 2

This post originally appeared on “Good Letters” on October 14, 2014. Continued from yesterday. The...

July 2017

July 28, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Graveyard Prayer”

In this poem, Robert Cording places himself in an unusual spot: “at the graveyard where...

July 13, 2017

The Beautiful Boy

It’s barely even summer and already, in our house it is the Summer of the...

June 2017

June 30, 2017

Poetry Friday: “The Fawn”

Narrative poetry has its special challenge: how does it differentiate itself from prose? David Mason’s...

May 2017

May 30, 2017

Preaching the End of the World

For my husband, Brian Jarboe I learned the news that guitarist Chris Cornell’s death had...

March 2017

March 22, 2017

The Landscape of Grief

Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a...

March 17, 2017

Poetry Friday: “In Tandem”

Here is a poem that takes aim at our clichés about aging and death. It...

February 2017

February 16, 2017

Epiphany in the Memory Unit

By Cameron Dezen Hammon. The priest’s wife handed me her half full can of beer....

February 10, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Erasure”

Have you ever felt that your own existence is being called into question? That you...

February 07, 2017

The Song of the Desert

“The Word of God which is his comfort is also his distress. The liturgy, which...

January 2017

January 24, 2017

Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea

It’s impossible to speak of Kenneth Lonergan’s film Manchester by the Sea without alluding to...

January 02, 2017

Poem for the New Year: “In the Candleroom at Saint Bartholomew’s on New Year’s Eve” By Heather Sellers

This poem moves me and impresses me with its sense of almost-but-not-quite arriving at connection....

December 2016

December 19, 2016

I Miss Gwen Ifill

For Kate Keplinger It is the blight man was born for It is Margaret that...