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When I was a young adult, my inner and outer life resembled a Taoist poem I had memorized (and now only partly remember). It began, “There’s no path in front of you; that’s the track of your own foot…” and ended, “I speak of the road the butterfly cuts.” Read more →

“We’re thinking about resistance more than resilience here in New Orleans.” -Rev De Vandiver, ten year anniversary of The Flood

Here’s to all who resist!

Resist assimilation

Resist cooptation

Resist oppression

Resist ignorance

Resist consumerism

Resist the certainty of others’ diagnoses

Resist complacency

Resist numbing out

Resist the same old same old

Resist being taken advantage of

Resist the hissed whisper to be quiet, settle down

Resist what is given, and instead create what is needed.

Here’s to all who create!

Create new stories, with new life springing forth

Create laughter and tears

Create gardens and delicious meals from them

Create music and its deep companionship

Create relationships that defy labels

Create deep rootsCreate beauty

Create courageous actions

Create what will carry us to a new day.

Here’s to the new day!

May it dawn bright for all, condemning none to nightmares

May it bring hope grounded in reason to hope

May it bring evidence for hearts to trust that love is real

May it bring joy and the simple abundance of enough.

Here’s to Labor Day, to the humble imperfect work of us all.

Seen and unseen, paid and unpaid, respected and unrespected.

Here’s to our real work together

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In “The Lanyard,” one of my favorite poems by Billy Collins, he describes making a plastic lanyard to give his mother. Read more →

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I told someone with a long-term illness—in this person’s case, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)—that I was writing a column on healing. Healing, she said. I’ve come to dislike that word intensely. Read more →