poetry 6: consider the hands that write this letter

How do we write? Not just the physicality of the act, beautiful enough – hands against paper – but more than that: holding the door to ourselves shut and knocking to get in, simultaneously. Lovely. Lovely. A poem first posted on 37days for National Poetry Month in 2007, it bears …

poetry 5: the fuel that feeds you

Hidden If you place a fern under a stone the next day it will be nearly invisible as if the stone has swallowed it. If you tuck the name of a loved one under your tongue too long without speaking it it becomes blood sigh the little sucked-in breath of …

poetry 4: pictures of home

Pictures of Home In the red-roofed stucco house of my childhood, the dining room was screened off by folding doors with small glass panes. Our neighbors the Bertins, who barely escaped Hitler, often joined us at table. One night their daughter said, In Vienna our dining room had doors like …

strong offer friday : I am back.

After 3 years of teaching exclusively online, I am back to teaching and speaking out in the world. Not as much as I used to, because I still want and need to be home for my daughter, Tess, as she navigates her Aspie world, but I’ve missed the interactions and …

poetry 3: skin remembers

Two Countries -Naomi Shihab Nye Skin remembers how long the years grow when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel of singleness, feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step, swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather. Skin ate, walked, slept by …

poetry 2: the woman in the ordinary

The Woman in the Ordinary The woman in the ordinary pudgy downcast girl is crouching with eyes and muscles clenched. Round and pebble smooth she effaces herself under ripples of conversation and debate. The woman in the block of ivory soap has massive thighs that neigh, great breasts that blare …

poetry 1: that the science of cartography is limited

  Every April, I celebrate national poetry month with a poem each day here at 37days. I hope you will enjoy this frolic through metaphor even half as much as I do. I know, I know. At least half of you are moaning. “I hate poetry,” you’re saying to yourself. “I never …

time isn’t money; relationship is.

A six-year-old boy in Colorado was recently expelled from school and charged with sexual harassment for showing affection for a classmate by kissing her on the cheek. The school had a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and he had crossed that line, most likely unknowingly. When the Virginia Tech …

strong offer friday

LIFE IS A VERB CAMP – A Camp for Adults who want to Love Well, Live Fully, Let Go Deeply, and Make a Difference September 24-27, 2015 Asilomar Retreat by the Sea, Pacific Grove, CA Like everything else, Life is a Verb Camp evolves. It is living into my vision …

thinking thursday

mind Oh, Harper Lee. You deserve better than this at the end of your life. How mindfulness changes your life. body Just flip it over. Need to create Infographics? Here you go. I bet this would ship well if you made me one. My favorite make-one-day-and-eat-the-next dish. Because, marinating. And …