I had one uncomfortable moment when my cousins were visiting me.  Even growing up in the same extended family, we have very different attitudes about some things.  One of those “bones of contention” involves social media.  Other than my blog, I don’t participate in social media.  I do follow my chil...

“You make your path by
walking it--reading
a virgin track for others
to follow--through meadow,
up hill, into friendship....

                                  Maybe
through your feet
you'll begin to feel
the pulse of the world."
                                          Excerpted from a poem by Luci Shaw  ...

A mongoose slinks and darts away
As if at hide and seek he plays;
He sneaks across the carpet green.
His hope?  That he will not be seen.
What causes such timidity?
Who does he fear?  Could it be me?
Does he dread his own compulsions
Or fear causing vile revulsions?
No matter wherefores or the whys
He skitte...

She reaches arms out,
little spindles, spokes
of a botanical wheel--
tentacles of light
about to explode
into floral fireworks.

In pre-profusion,
mystery yet unfurled,
she's overlooked,
ignored; no one cares
what she might be,
until one day she
bursts forth, emanation
white and star-like,
and then someone
plucks...

                  “I would give an arm
          and a leg," she said, and then
               one day they were gone.

                       Liz McFadzean

One of the characteristics of traditional haiku is the 17 syllable form…five in the first line, then seven and five.  The essence of haiku is “c...

A worried world won’t let the weary rest;
amid the clamorous din, beleaguered kneel,
begging for crumbs at the communal feast,
like hungry dogs scrounging for a meal,
and broken down, they long for sweet release,
balm of Gilead poured on beaten backs.

The rock at the base of the tree cries “Peace”,
risin...

Whatever walked ahead of me
  Left paw prints in the snow
And wild or domesticated,
  I will not, do not know. 

I think a squirrel or otter may
  Have passed this way before,
And humans with their canine friends
  Have passed this way before,

A bunny may have hopped this way,
  A ferret or a mink,
It migh...

She spoke her mind
like holy writ;
a double edged sword
of small proportions,
designed for parsing
joints and marrow,
for penetration
to the heart, words
now lying like broken
scissors, flattened in the street,
trampled underfoot.

Liz McFadzean

Some of us know the privilege
of burning bras, of Title Nine
and following our bliss.
But, O, those uppity women
in Seneca Falls.  Shoulder to shoulder
they stand in crinolines and petticoats
that belie their ramrod backbones;
unwilling to settle for second class status
or scrabble for leftover crumbs
like s...

“This is not paradise, but we would really like it to be.”  Richard Lints

Throughout Advent I met twice a week with a friend to pray for our families, our church and our fractured country and world.  One of the weeks, as we struggled with the sense of frustration that we felt about our efforts to b...