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August 2017

August 18, 2017

Poetry Friday: “The Fire Tower”

This summer is marked by smoke, our town covered in an urgent haze from nearby...

July 2017

July 25, 2017

As Petals Fall

“Why are you in the dirt?” he asked, trundling to where I crouched. “I’m pulling...

July 19, 2017

Summer’s Heartbeat

On some summer nights, it seems the world is brighter, more visible in a quiet...

July 11, 2017

The Case For Charlie Gard

Charlie Gard, the English child you see here, will likely die—indeed, by the time this...

May 2016

May 27, 2016

Poetry Friday: “The Manifestation” by Richard Jones

I’m a poet and believer. If anyone should spend an evening gazing at a meteor...

June 2015

June 03, 2015

The Science and Sundayness of Play

This post was made possible through the support of a grant from The BioLogos Foundation’s...

May 2015

May 22, 2015

The Two Lists

Seven-year old Isaiah found a small desk in the back of our garage and claimed...

May 18, 2015

In the Marrow of Depression and Anxiety

By the time you read this, I’ll be feeling much better. Therapy will have commenced,...

May 08, 2015

Sugar, Sugar, Part 2: May 8, 2015

Continued from yesterday. When the editors of Good Letters first asked if they could rerun...

May 07, 2015

Sugar, Sugar, Part 1: June 10, 2011

I’ve written before about my father’s alcoholism. From my adolescence until his death, I spent...

April 2015

April 23, 2015

Fever

By Dyana Herron When well, it’s easy to forget how utterly miserable it feels to...

September 2014

September 04, 2014

All Unhappy Families Are Alike

In commenting on my latest essay for “Good Letters,” a man “disabled from an odd...

August 2014

August 22, 2014

How to Talk to the Dying

Since being diagnosed nearly seven years ago with a lethal cancer, I have backed my...

August 21, 2014

The Gift of Gravy Days

Well, I’ve reached my three score and ten years. It must sound positively ancient to...

April 2013

April 11, 2013

Amour and Fear

Guest Post By David P. Clark, M.D. On the day I graduated from medical school...

April 08, 2013

More Poetry of Married Love

In a previous post, I used Richard Wilbur’s poem “for C” to talk about my...

March 2013

March 08, 2013

Can I Offer Up My Suffering?

“Pain is an evil, suffering is an evil. We mustn’t desire it. We don’t desire...

March 05, 2013

Will a Migraine Make Me Holy?

In her collection The White Album, published in 1979, Joan Didion has an essay called...

December 2012

December 14, 2012

Namaste Neighborhood Yoga Studio

My local yoga studio just closed. I’ve known the day was coming, as much as...

July 2012

July 10, 2012

A Psalm for Surgery

Seamless, my passage through a day and from day to day: from dawn to dusk,...

June 2012

June 13, 2012

What I’ve Been Given

Six dogs: Snoopy, Prince, Woody, Ramona, Leon, Bubby. All but Bubby now nothing more than...

June 03, 2012

Making Rules for Life

For my forty-first birthday, I decided to write a personal rule of life. Turning forty...