Thunderstorm Hymn March 23, 2010

sits on bed strums guitar softly thunder plays the timpani tap-tap of rain swells of the wing drown the strings in glory a girl and the elements only one song Creator and creature in symphony

Sunday Afternoon March 8, 2010

Low on gas she Throws coat in back seat Rolls down windows Skips exit It’s the first warm day of the year. Drives slow, Doesn’t care. Drives fast, Doesn’t care. Doesn’t sing along, Just listens, Just drives… drives… Semi-trucks and SUVs and sports cars, Any just driving? She wonders. Breathes deeply. Twenty-three miles (one for [...]

March 4, 2010

And who can say what it is? Financial stability, an empty schedule, and no responsibilities… so I’ve heard. But maybe it’s lotion on cracked winter hands—stinging, healing.  The endlessness of open roads.  Music and art.  Maybe it’s the release that comes with cussing, the solitude of car-crying, or the last moment of worship in a [...]

On Existing February 18, 2010

I had a good day today. I slept in and woke up to a warm house because Larry the furnace-fixer paid us a visit late last night.  I spent some time reading, took a hot shower, and had spaghettios and salt & vinegar chips for lunch.  I had brownies for desert that my mom made [...]

The Responsibility Of A Christian October 22, 2009

To blend all of a hospital’s blood, vomit, and tears into masterpiece murals. To conduct a city’s sirens, car horns, and coins tossed into tin cans as orchestra. To collect a culture’s foulest, most offensive words and spell them “h-a-l-l-e-l-u-j-a-h.” And you thought it was all doe-eyed Jesus portraits, praise choruses, and “s-a-v-e-d.”

Newspaper Word Cut-outs (Part 2) October 20, 2009

Confession? I didn’t have a seventh-grade sweetheart, nor did I ever receive or send a circle-yes-or-no love note.  “Dark Blue” wasn’t the song I said I’d remember–it was “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.  I don’t know what type of cigarettes Bethany was smoking, and besides, she didn’t light up inside the car. The sky [...]

We Were Boxing The Stars (Part 1) October 14, 2009

Last Wednesday night at two thirty in the morning the four of us drove home from dancing.  Our ears were ringing from the the pounding music and the swirling of the heat made us drowsy.  Julie dozed with her head on the backseat headrest and I rested my forehead on the window, staring at the [...]

Today I Like Purple October 4, 2009

Red for the city (Chicago is burgundy), blue for staying here, yellow for depending on other people, white for I’ll-do-it-myself-thanks.  Green makes marriage and babies.  Orange makes home-sick.  Pink makes freedom or lots of mistakes, depending on the lighting.  Purple… can’t exist. So many shades.  So many rainbow promises.  So much beauty, if you blend [...]

Here’s To Feeling Fragile September 28, 2009

An “it’ll be ok” promise is all it would take, or maybe an “I believe in you.”  I could send up an eyes-closed-knees-bent bedtime prayer or just listen, listen, listen to you talk, vent, purge.  These are the things for you, and I’ll do them all. But I’ll give it more: The kind of comfort [...]

One Of Those Days, You Know The Ones September 17, 2009

One of those days where there’s just no reaching glory. No music is loud enough to rattle your bones. No speed is fast enough to chap your skin. No oxygen is dense enough to quite fill every part of you. One of those days where if you were an explorer you would be repelling into [...]