Cultivating Conversation

Cultivating Conversation

Pay attention. Listen. Be inclusive. Don’t gossip. Show respect. Be agreeable. Apologize. Give constructive criticism. Take responsibility. Most of us learned these basic rules of discussion back in grade school. Yet, how often does anyone really abide by them...
The Walk to Makino

The Walk to Makino

“My father is flying, my father is flying,” Rachel chants as they rush around the house in a panic, moving their mattress down to the tatami room and making their bedroom ready for the visit.  “Do you realize he’ll be here twenty-one days? That’s one-fifth of our stay...
Liturgy of the Swallow

Liturgy of the Swallow

While Cardinal Swanson flareshis satin sleeves on high to let flythe word of God, the little bird,swift and sweet as a stolen kiss,having lost its way in, seekinga way out, tries flyingsome dazzling demonstrations of flightabove the heads of a gaping...
Interior Landscape

Interior Landscape

In the window, hung on fishing line, three prismed crystal globescatch and refract whatever rays dive down between apartment blocks:kaleidoscoping stars of rose, blue, saffron light dance crazilyacross the walls, the quilts, the shelves of novels bookendedby cast-iron...