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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 05, 2018

Tahlequah’s Grief

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

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 17, 2018

Poetry Friday: Raven

Poet Anya Krugovoy Silver passed away on Monday, August 6, in Macon, Georgia, at forty-nine....

January 2018

January 24, 2018

The Shore after the Storm

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

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...

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 02, 2017

Poetry Friday: “June Prayer”

How to pray for someone bent over by grief when nature is stretching upward in...

April 2017

April 20, 2017

The Eye Behind the Camera: Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson

When we first see the close-up of the dead bird on the ground, we wonder...

April 12, 2017

God is a Wild Old Dog

God is a wild old dog / Someone left out on the highway —Patty Griffin...

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 10, 2017

Poetry Friday: “Grief Daybook: A Love Supreme”

It’s fairly common for a poem to be inspired by (or be in conversation with)...

February 2017

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 23, 2017

The World at Midday

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

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....

November 2016

November 01, 2016

Poison Ivy and the Path of Grief

Though its fruit should’ve been in season, too many harsh Midwest winters left the leaves...

September 2016

September 30, 2016

Poetry Friday: “After” by Marjorie Stelmach

Grief is a state of being that almost defies articulation. When you’re in it, it...

September 23, 2016

Poetry Friday: “Visitation Rights” by Jeffrey Harrison

I sometimes talk to friends who have died. Especially to friends who acted as spiritual...

August 2016

August 04, 2016

Blood Lines

Last September, I was in Philadelphia for the first time since my freshman year of...

July 2016

July 29, 2016

Poetry Friday: Four Sonnets

Sonnets meditating on illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages may sound a bit sanctimonious, even...

June 2016

June 14, 2016

Fifty Shores of Grief

I write this the evening of June 12, 2016, the day forty-nine people died in the...

May 2016

May 19, 2016

The Long Regretful Wait

By Tony Woodlief My mother’s quavering voicemail was right: I hadn’t called in a long...

May 17, 2016

Grief and the Weight of Glory

The wind whips through the quilts and sheets on our clothesline, cracking now and then...

March 2016

March 08, 2016

Thawing at the Edges

When the spring teases me one day, outplaying the winter dullness for just an afternoon,...

February 2016

February 23, 2016

Poetry in a Season of Lament, Part 2

Two Poets Laureate On Grief, Detachment, and Finding New Ways to Live, Part 2 By...

September 2015

September 21, 2015

Let Me Die Like This

When I die, Lord, let me go in a plane crash, spiraling down, earthward, earthward,...

July 2015

July 21, 2015

A Bug Night of the Soul

It was a night of tumors, broken relationships, lost jobs, and loneliness. A night of...

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 29, 2015

Triple Scoop

By Jessica Mesman Griffith My best friend died suddenly almost two years ago. She’d lived...

May 12, 2015

Facing Calvary

There’s a line from last year’s thought-provoking film, Calvary, that’s uttered by a young French...

May 05, 2015

When We Die

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