Winter solstice haiku
Winter’s shortest day The sun turns sharp on its heel And steps off toward spring
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
Past eloquence
I offer words of two previous presidents that are relevant to the many crises we face today as a nation. In his second inaugural address … Read more
A man of courage
Miguel de Unamuno was one of the great Spanish intellects in the first decades of the 20th century. He was a poet, playwright, and novelist, … Read more
Pen and paper
For me, the flow of ideas through a keyboard is different than through a pen or pencil. There is something about the intimacy of ideas … Read more
Slouching towards bliss
A few years ago, I came across this sentence, which was attributed to the US Army Ranger Handbook: “The two greatest general threats to survival … Read more