Little BrotherYou, as a little boy, ran around in your underwearA towel safety-pinned to the back of your tee shirtSuperman with his capeReady to fly off and right the wrongs of the world You, as a young man, curled up in bedSnuggled with our older brother dying of AIDSWatching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air togetherDoing what…
A Poem for National Poetry Month
This is National Poetry Month, and I have written a poem to celebrate Day One. This is from the NAPoWriMonth site: https://www.napowrimo.net/ . I am participating through Story Circle Network. Day #1 Prompt: Write a poem that recounts the plot, or some portion of the plot, of a novel that you remember having liked but…
Happy Easter!
Today, I served at the 8 a.m. service at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, as the crucifer. The crucifer is the person who carries the cross in the procession and recession and also rings the bells during the Mass. I love serving at the altar with my fellow acolytes. Not only do we get the…
A Poem: Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is a liminal time A straddling of what has been and what will soon be On the cusp between dark night and first light A time of waitingOf patience Before everything changesWhen a rolled-aside stone reveals an empty tombAnd a man mistaken as a gardener Filled with humility and forgiveness Undoes humanity’s petty…
For Maundy Thursday: Mary Karr’s poem, “Descending Theology: The Garden
Below is a poem by Mary Karr. I am posting this today in honor of Maundy Thursday. Descending Theology: The GardenMary KarrWe know he was a man because, once doomed,he begged for reprieve. See himgrieving on his rock under olive trees,his companions asleepon the hard ground around himwrapped in old hides.Not one stayed awake as…
Happy 5th Birthday, Lyla!
My granddaughter Lyla celebrated her 5th birthday today with her mom, dad, and two siblings. We will see her soon for our big family celebration. Lyla is smart and pretty and has a great attitude about life. “Look how beautiful it is today, Grandma,” she said one day when we went outside for a walk….
11 Tips for Creativity
I found the following list in an old 2013 writing file tonight. I apologize to the author. I did not write down your name, website address, or any identifying information. I tried typing in the title “11 Tips for Creativity ” and found several articles, but none had this content. I’m so sorry. I will…
Holy Week: A Light in the Darkness for Christians
The upcoming week is the most sacred in the Christian church’s calendar and is filled with particular meaning for me. I am always deeply touched by the events that led to the crucifixion of Jesus. The world then is no different from the world today – a deeply fractured place where “the other” is often…
Learning about Author-Publishing, One Step at a Time
I didn’t post last night, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t writing. The truth is that I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning editing my manuscript for publication. I got up again this morning after not lots of sleep and worked all day on it. I read it page by page, refining…
5-Star Recipe for Healthier Chocolate Cupcakes
A while back, daughter Liz shared a recipe that substituted 15 ounces of canned pumpkin puree for all the wet ingredients required in an 18.25 oz. chocolate cake mix. According to the reviews, the pumpkin produced delicious low-fat chocolate cupcakes or cookies. The only problem was that Ray and I don’t eat refined sugar so…
20 Minutes a Day 