Poetry

These are posts that happen to have one of two of my own poems included in the story or the recipe.

Single Figure

July 24, 2019

I was deeply disappointed with this sketch the morning I drew it. I thought I had failed, but I was tired, and it was time to make my oatmeal, so I sighed and left it out on my work space at the slider windows, washed in northern light, and went about my morning. During the […]

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At Home in the World

March 11, 2017

  Several years ago a man who broke my heart told me that somewhere in the Casteneda books, the wise man told the seeker that if you’re in love with the world you’re never lonely. This man said he thought that I was one of these special people, that I was in love with the […]

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Blood Oranges and Slow Miracles in Poetry

December 6, 2016

On December 1st, Blood Orange Review, an online literary journal at Washington State University, announced its newest edition, volume 8.2, was now live. That edition includes a poem of mine called “As If We Were Solid and Did Not Go On Forever.” This poem is about an experience I had over 20 years ago that […]

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“Found” Fig Compote (And A New Tree of Knowledge)

August 30, 2015

I have always been a fan of “found” poetry–that is, wording that inadvertently reads with the resonating “both/and” complexity of  a written poem. Perhaps my favorite all-time found poem came from a documentary about the animals in Madagascar I saw decades ago. I still remember it (or I think I do): The lemurs escape the […]

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The Slow Miracle of My Yoga Practice: Feeling The Whole in a Part

May 24, 2015

I was introduced to the well-known Hindu fable The Blind Men and the Elephant at a very early age. At 3, my mother read me the 19th century version byJohn Godfrey Saxe from the pages of the Childcraft volume, Storytelling and Other Poems. This volume was part of a set my parents must have purchased when […]

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Knowing When to Say No

April 12, 2015

The thrust of measurable success eating a no oil low fat whole foods diet is decidedly outward. We constantly chronicle our dramatic weight loss, our training schedules, hikes, trips, first marathons, returns to work. In my case I’ve showered you with what I call my “Little Victories Over MS” and ”Plant Based Lifestyle Epiphanies.” More […]

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Vegan Versions: Living Oatmeal

May 19, 2014

A few years ago when i first read somewhere online that in addition to his morning big bowl, Rip Esselstyn often eats a bowl of oats before bed, I felt like I had been given permission to eat more oats. Then I read in a thread on the McDougall discussion board that for some people […]

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My “Haystack of Light”

December 30, 2013

I’m not one for making New Year’s Resolutions, but if I had to have one it would be the sentiment in this Mary Oliver poem which I read on the Poetry Chaikhana blog: to remember to instruct myself “over and over” “in joy and acclamation” “of the ordinary,” so I can be left like ” […]

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Slow Miracle Store Page?

November 13, 2013

Another of my favorite poems from childhood is called “General Store” by Rachel Field. It starts out like this: Some day I’m going to have a store With a tinkly bell hung over the door, With real glass cases and counter wide And drawers all spilly with things inside. Over 50 years later, the beginning […]

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Reading Out Loud

October 25, 2013

Doesn’t this look like a nice chair to read a book in or listen to a story in? My fondest first memories are of being read to when I was very small. One of my favorite books to be read to from was the Child Craft volume “Poems of Early Childhood.” Through yet another slow […]

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