On my way to town, I drive past houses where smoke from chimneys curls upward. It’s comforting to watch the updraft. I suddenly recall the boxy houses with chimneys that I once drew with a pencil as a child, always a curl of smoke climbing. What I like about the smoke, I suppose, is that it has direction. Not lost, not confused. It’s climbing upward. I live among mountains. I am nestled below in a valley. Yesterday I was in a group where people were talking about grief and ho

How any poem is created is a mystery to me. How concrete (shape) poems like the three below happen is an even greater mystery. I had nothing in my mind. Then bam! a shape. Why one shape shows up and not another is God stuff. Why one word, the heart of the poem, dominates the entire poem is God stuff, too. But hey, it’s Christmas! My little gifts to you. “A Giving Tree,” the second poem below, has roots as well as the first and third. It came after seeing a tree on the highway

Rain had fallen for days. Puddles, all over the yard. The days had been dark and cold. I could feel it inside my body. It made me reflect on the dark days more than 2,000 years ago. The world was not at its finest when baby Jesus came into the world. He had picked the time of Herod, taxes, dark maneuvers. But there was a Bethlehem star, a stable-place, shepherds, angels, Joseph, Mary, wise men. Wise men were searching for light, holiness, goodness, the Christ child. I know I’

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4:00 p.m. It’s Friday, December 7th. I’m on time at Curious Craftsman, a shop in Norfork, Arkansas, ready to sign books for four hours. Here, just in case someone buys a book and wants it signed. I’m pretty disciplined about writing. But not so good about marketing what I write. Tonight I’m making an effort to market books. Curious Craftsman is cozy and smells like a flower. I’m surrounded by art, quilts, pottery, jewelry, books. My corner of the world is expecting snow and s

Saturday morning. Skies are clear. An hour after awakening, my husband shows me the two tall pines we lost in the night. One lays toppled on another. The straight winds blustered entrances and exits most of the night. No way these trees can upright themselves again. They are uprooted. Kindest friends, I am one of those who can hear snoring dogs, the drip of a faucet, someone turning pages and sighing over a sad paragraph. But last night, I heard nothing. Thank you, Lord. I ne