“It happens this way” are the opening words from a poem of mine called “A Few Words on Inspiration.” They signal that this blog will share what inspires me to stand up – like poet Galway Kinnell – and say “with as little concealment as possible, what it is for [me] to be on earth at this moment.”
Welcome to the journey!
Turn every day into a Valentine!
It happens this way … When little irritations get in the way, I try to remember what I wrote in this poem. Happy Valentine’s Day –– and may you all ...
What I Learned from the Presbyterians
It happens this way … On the evening of January 15, while my students and I gathered in our local library for another meeting of the Happy Valley Poetry Society, ...
The Best 15:54 Minutes You’ll Spend This Year
It happens this way … I’ve taken a break from blogging for a few weeks during this holiday season, not because I was very busy (the holidays were kind and ...
Away in a manger ten days before Christmas …
It happens this way … One of my goals as a young poet was to rewrite the Bible from a woman’s point of view. Over the years, I’ve slowly accumulated poems ...
Sunday Evening with Buddha
It happens this way … While doing some research on the Buddha for a poem, I came across a series of his quotations tonight. I thought I’d share some of ...
What I Just Learned from High School Students
It happens this way … During the past week, Kathy and I had the pleasure of going to Reynolds High School in Troutdale and to David Douglas High School in ...
Breaking with Charity
It happens this way … By some strange You-Tube happenstance, I came across the conversation Tara Westhover, the author of Educated, had with Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, at the ...
To All Dog Lovers Out There
It happens this way … A friend just emailed me to say she put down her dog this morning. It was a compassionate thing to do since her sweet pet ...
SMITTEN: How do we identify ourselves?
It happens this way … There’s a new anthology coming out in a few weeks called SMITTEN: This Is What Love Looks Like from Indie Blu(e) Publishing. It features 120 women, ages ...
In Memory of 9/11
It happens this way … Here, a Holding On for New York City October 1, 2001 Twenty days of barricades and twos and threes pause on Chambers Street – ...
The Theology of Not-Yet
It happens this way … I just finished reading Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life by Harold S. Kushner, the author of Why Bad Things Happen to Good People ...
Beware of staring ducks
It happens this way … Yesterday I received my paperback copy of the summer issue of QU, a literary magazine published by Queens University of Charlotte, NC. I knew they had ...
To the last days of August …
It happens this way … Notes from an August Gardener In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. – Albert Camus Sunday ...
Make More Mistakes
It happens this way … Last week’s post about my lying to cover up mistakes uncovered a distant memory. It was 1980 and I was standing at the kitchen sink ...
Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave …
It happens this way … Rarely does a book so captivate me that I stay up late and get up early to finish it. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarity was ...
In Praise of Left Hands
It happens this way … It only took minor minor-surgery to make me realize how important a left hand is. (For all the lefties out there, read “right hand.”) The ...
Changing the Hospital Narrative
It happens this way … I used to hate hospitals. When I was in sixth grade, I fractured an ankle while ice skating on Woodbridge pond on New Year’s Eve ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part VIII
It happens this way … July 5: We left Philly for a final visit with my mom and a delightful lunch with my Mount student Ampy Pikarsky (’72) and her ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part VII
It happens this way … The 4th of July in Philadelphia where it all started! My Mount student Rhonda Fabian (’75) and her husband Jerry met us for front row seats ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part VI
It happens this way … We continued July 3 with a visit to the magnificent National Constitution Center. Outside, re-enacters roamed the mall with their tents, costumes, and stories told ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part V
It happens this way … July 3rd started a block away from our hotel with a celebration with the Philadelphia Fire Department. Since Benjamin Franklin founded the first department, his ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part IV
It happens this way … Tuesday, July 2: My dear sister/friend, Bernadette Pape who works for the Jesuits in Merion, Pennsylvania, came into town for a stroll and breakfast at ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part III
It happens this way … If you thought we were finished on Monday, July 1, you would be so wrong! We discovered that the new Museum of the American Revolution ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part II
It happens this way … Monday, July 1: First full day of Philadelphia sightseeing. We started with the Liberty Bell and met a delightful couple from Limerick, Ireland: Patricia and ...
The East Coast Diaries, Part I
It happens this way … The second trip of 2019 took us to New Jersey and Philadelphia. We spent June 28-June 30 at the Mt. St. Mary House of Prayer, a ...
A Sunday Thought
It happens this way … It’s taken me decades to understand that when my poems are rejected by a publication, I shouldn’t take it personally. I’ve learned to breathe deeply, ...
The Maui Diaries, Part 7
It happens this way … Hula and ukulele: can you get more Hawaiian than that? Over the years, Kathy has enjoyed taking hula lessons from one of the premier kumu ...
The Maui Diaries, Part 6
It happens this way … May 21, 2019 Ranked one of the ten best aquariums in the country, the Maui Ocean Center in Ma’alaea is a well-planned, well-laid-out ocean-lover’s delight ...
The Maui Diaries, Part 5
It happens this way … May 20, 2019 On Maui, openness and flexibility are required to keep the Aloha spirit alive. Almost every time we planned a day of site-seeing ...
The Maui Diaries, Part 4
It happens this way … May 19, 2019 To the south of Kihei is an exclusive area known as Wailea. Country clubs with their expansive golf courses, multi-million dollar houses ...
