Humans and dung beetles
DNA studies indicate that the species to which humans are most closely related is the chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes. While chimpanzees certainly have human characteristics, I … Read more
Life
Meditations on how to live
Who and what and why
I was looking last night through a folder of poems I have written. I came across this bit of doggerel from 44 years ago. I … Read more
Living a wild and precious life
Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day,” is a favorite of mine: Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made … Read more
Brutal approximation
In his collection of nonfiction, Just Before Dark, Jim Harrison notes that he “awoke in the middle of the night and wrote down that it … Read more
When Death Comes
I had never heard of the poet Mary Oliver until about 1994 when I was browsing the poetry section of a bookstore in Seattle on … Read more
Haiku on dogs
Here are four haiku about dogs. My current dog is Milo, a mongrel I adopted from the Multnomah County Animal Shelter. The haiku follow the … Read more
What is important in life?
This is an exercise that was part of a training session I took more than thirty years ago to become a hospice patient volunteer. I … Read more