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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 25, 2018

Remembering Sassy

Sassy wasn’t her real name, and she wasn’t “sassy” at all. But as happens with...

August 2018

August 07, 2018

Here Is Where We Wait

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

May 2018

May 29, 2018

Mother’s House

Mother’s house is not a house. Mother’s house is not a cave. Mother’s house is...

May 07, 2018

In a Religion of Love

In the religion of love to pray is to pass, by a shining word, into...

May 04, 2018

Poetry Friday: “Shortnin’ Bread”

We sang it, too. In 1961, Mr. D taught our fourth grade music class folk...

March 2018

March 19, 2018

Trafficking in Fear

I am chatting with a woman in a clothing store as our conversation moves from...

January 2018

January 22, 2018

A Hearth for Our Home

A week before Christmas my husband and I hired professionals to install a wood stove...

December 2017

December 13, 2017

Lucia in the Dark

Every year after the clocks fall back, I read Lia Purpura's essay "Sugar Eggs: A...

December 07, 2017

What Child Is This?

My wife is holding my hand to her stomach, gently gliding my fingers just beneath...

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...

October 2017

October 18, 2017

Looking For Release

This post originally appeared at Good Letters on May 9, 2012. Dayne, my mother’s ex-boyfriend,...

October 02, 2017

Bridal Veils and Blessing

In the back of the closet right, where I’d stowed it years before, I found...

September 2017

September 18, 2017

Parenting by Politics

The moment is freeze-framed in my mind: My eldest, Milo, red-faced with anger, his eyes...

August 2017

August 24, 2017

Global Neighbors

This post originally appeared in Good Letters on October 20, 2011 In the last few...

August 23, 2017

The Sweetness These Days

On the phone, he says, Your mother throws me over her shoulder and carries...

August 21, 2017

Prowling the Woods

My father told me that when he used to bird hunt through the Kilgore Hills...

August 16, 2017

Entering the Age of Subtraction

I am entering the Age of Subtraction. Almost as if there existed an imperceptible fulcrum...

August 15, 2017

Miscarriage

Guest Post One of the first official symptoms of pregnancy is an out of character...

August 14, 2017

An American Body Politic

A show about Russian spies living in D.C. during the Cold War easily brings to...

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...

June 29, 2017

My Own Desert (Tortoise) Father

This post originally appeared on “Good Letters” on July 21, 2014. I didn’t spend enough...

March 2017

March 20, 2017

Inheriting Trauma

By Callie Feyen. Until a few months ago, I thought Aleppo, Syria was one word....

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 23, 2017

The World at Midday

I spent Christmas Eve with my mom last month for the first time in years....

January 17, 2017

Black Lives, Black Art

I happened to be re-reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin when the current issue of Image (#90)...

January 09, 2017

Hea i ka Haku

By Marlene Muller On day two we fired the harpist. “The music is really very...

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 26, 2016

A Love Supreme: The Surprising Art of Sedrick Huckaby

This essay is a web exclusive accompanying Image journal’s current issue, #90. By Bruce Herman...

December 19, 2016

I Miss Gwen Ifill

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