First published in 2017; tis the season to repost. Joy in the Journey* is one of the themes of Advent, which is a central part of the Catholic religion, to which my mom was faithful. For me, that thought always takes me back to a dark country road, under a green and white blanket, under…
Tag: religion
Casino Crow
She sits before the blinking bank of lights smooth tower above her, random chance she taps the button, circuits dance a magic beyond her hope of comprehension, but resonant exactly to her comprehension of hope. This is us before the world. It rears in its random glory, we tap blindly at the play button, which…
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.
person Estrella del Valle, three poems translated by Toshiya Kamei
Originally posted on ISACOUSTIC*:
Born in Córdoba, Veracruz, Estrella del Valle now lives in El Paso, Texas. Her most recent poetry collection, Calima: CAution LIve aniMAls, was published in 2018. Translations of her poems have appeared in various journals, including Burnside Review, Coe Review, Controlled Burn, International Poetry Review, and Pembroke Magazine. Toshiya Kamei holds…
Morning
Originally posted on Prairiepomes:
Joy comes in the morning. – Psalm 30:5 Morning was always Mom’s time. In the winter on the farm, morning would begin with the sound of her rattling the kitchen stove, stoking up the fire. We heated the house via a mixed-fuel furnace in the basement, whom, for reasons that live…
Song of Praise (resung)
In Nass Valley, one shaft of sun lights two red and white toadstools in damp moss, luminous deeper in cathedral, wingéd ugly fungi, colours i wouldn’t admit there, i and all that i am, no less than the stinkhorn and oozing mud sing the brown and wrinkled, slick and loathsome, what i would not dare…
Seokguram Temple (revisited)
watch the spell these mountains clarify our breath, that is the sea over there in this grotto, guardians of broken stone can’t stop tourists, nor the thief who pried loose the jewel once in Buddha’s brow at sunrise, they say you could stand just inside doors opened wide toward sea, and the first ray of…
person Daniel Paul Marshall, three poems
Originally posted on ISACOUSTIC*:
Daniel Paul Marshall lives on the island of Jeju, where he runs a guesthouse & bar that he built with his wife. He has had poems published in a few journals, including Four Ties Lit Review, The Contemporary Haibun Online, Underfoot, and The High Window. danielpaulmarshall.com ∞ A handful of prayers…
Tool Of God
Originally posted on Prairiepomes:
? It has been a long, dark winter. Today marks four years since the tsunami that devastated Tohoku, with its continuing legacy of nuclear refugees, radiation leaking into the sea, untold ramifications to come to us all. I pray that those who are responsible to act directly upon Fukushima have been…
On This Holy Night
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. – Matthew 2:10 Tonight, I am home in the quiet, Mom. This house is old-fashioned, with the kitchen at its heart, like a farm house. My living room walls are gold, like yours were. I keep a garden, Mom, and I bake bread. I…
Toes for God
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. – St. Augustine If not for my Mom, God might have taken my toes, along with my horse and my money. I was the third of six, middle daughter, youngest of the ‘big kids.’ Sometimes I felt a bit invisible to Mom….
Gideons
Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:12 When I was a kid, the Gideons International gave out New Testaments to all kids in Grade 5. I remember my big sister got one, though it wasn’t until she was 15 that she really took up with our churchy neighbours – for…
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