Looking back to 2014, it seems a kinder, gentler time. Dr. Cornett is a wise, genuine, passionate teacher who leads with spirit and vulnerability. Interesting to look back at his work, now that Dr. Jordan Peterson has risen to prominence; now that Me Too has had its moment, now that this kind of conversation feels…
Category: spiritual vs political
A view of the papal visit, Part 1: old ladies vs…
Behind the grill, a K9 officer, evidently as done with the pointless tension of the whole thing as we were, suddenly fired a volley of loud barks at us. In perfect tandem, we turned and roared back ‘Ah, shut up!’
Hey. Why you going to see the Pope, if you got such a chip on your shoulder, eh? Because this chip on my shoulder has a name. Because of the damned. Because of the rammed. The raped. The beaten. The killed. The blamed for their savage natures, they all had names. Because I remain. Because…
Prayer for Leaders
You are my people, and I love you and serve you. If you are in pain, I will bear it with you. If you celebrate, I will raise my voice in joy with you. If you face danger, I will face it first. If you must be constrained, I will bear with this same constraint….
When They Ask, I’ll Say
It’s not our fault you feel bad. You should. We should. It’s dead children. We can all do better now.
Day 16: List Poem, On Gardens
What gardeners become: contemplative sanguine patient genocidal in service of their chosen. What I love in my garden: saskatoons, who rise early dandelions, earlier still that shaggy sense of wellbeing presaged in first green lace slug traps, like Mom would set. Spring garden memories: Grandma, tongue thick in English sorrowing for strawberry time in those…
On Land… Addendum: The Question that Matters
Addendum: This morning, I listened to the radio, and heard Greta Thunberg address the UN. Having lived through the Nuclear scare (notice nobody talks about all the armaments still out there, still as great a peril), and witnessed how people struggled for the ‘right’ title to attach to this crisis we must now fear, I…
On Land Acknowledgment in the Time of Climate Worries
Recently, I was privileged to address a gathering of the Society of Friends (aka Quakers), to offer perspectives on Land Acknowledgments. I was moved by their desire to ‘get it right,’ to engage with this new ritual protocol in a meaningful and authentic way; moved, but not surprised, given that the person who invited me…
Weasel in the Cern Reactor
once upon a time star woman did not listen she looked down too far and fell through a hole in the sky muskrat, a tiny person dived below the waters brought her home now, upon this time earthbound men seek under a mountain range to harness that particle they call god and…
Do Not Send
Do not send the poets to build your mighty streets for we will follow stream’s meander and bend aside for the cities of ants. Do not send the poets to clean your house for we are apt to pause, enraptured by the fall of dust through light, and sing ‘o, there am i, o there…
Listening to Snatam Kaur
and if you could not sing for me i would seek the song of strangers rather than live silenced and if you desired to sing for me but your words were taken i would learn the songs of strangers and sing you new words and if you would sing with me these songs,…
The Silence Between Two Rivers
I call myself the Silence Between Two Rivers because I inherit two large streams of humanity. The stories of our interconnections are not well told, for the most part. And the pressure to choose one side or another of my identity is real. And tedious. And not nearly as interesting to me as the territory in between.
Prairiepomes 