The Invitation

May knew that it was unlikely that she was seeing Mickey. He’d been dead these twenty years. But she was pushing her walker over the threshold between the bedroom and the living room, feeling the deep ache in her hands and knees, and there Mickey was standing on the porch peering in through the shadows … Continue reading The Invitation →

Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44399/pied-beauty "Pied Beauty" first comes to mind when one hears 'dapple'. The other thing that comes to mind is the Appaloosa pony, which may make a poem sometime, but first things first. One does not need to love or even know or even think God to love Hopkins. Nor if a believer, one does not … Continue reading Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins →

Bird Woman Speaks

“I don’t suppose anyone here has ever heard of the Olicanucian Flyinitus,” Robin said. The fireplace light flickered and danced in her small obsidian eyes. “No, Robie, no,” Merle said. “These folk don’t need to hear your misadventures in the Pleistocene.” He spoke quickly and his voice trembled, and we sensed in his warning more … Continue reading Bird Woman Speaks →

Millie Fray Brings God to the Open Mic

It is unlikely you know or know of Lon Darby. He is one of the unfortunate lost of our time—though if it were up to Millie Fray he'd be enshrined in mosques and temples and steepled churches right now. I had certainly never heard of him, nor of Millie Fray, before one night two weeks … Continue reading Millie Fray Brings God to the Open Mic →