The weather has been moody here lately, which makes staying inside feel appropriate and creates a fitting ambiance for writing some poetry. With some peaceful piano music in the background, I flipped through The Assassin’s Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Greatest Diarists to “find” my poems. Using the words of the various authors selected…
The best books I read in 2025
Yet another year has gone by without any blog posts. I do not want to lose the skill of introspection (albeit in a public setting), so now that I am officially done with school, maybe I will find my way back to posting on here. With the time I have had this year, I used…
The best books I read in 2024
An entire year has gone by without a single blog post. I would like to return to the ritual of writing here, but I have been knee deep in a third (!) master's degree program this past year, this time for clinical mental health counseling. Next year, I will be in the clinicals portion of…
The best books I read in 2023
It is such an odd experience to look back at books I read in the beginning of the year and think, That was this year?! Why does it feel so long ago? I thought this year went by quickly, but this sensation makes me think otherwise. So much happens in a year, I suppose. Looking…
Black-out Poetry (Part 21)
When I make blackout poems, I usually try not to read the page I'm working from, at least not until I'm done making a poem, because I don't want to be influenced by the actual meaning of the writing in making what I hope will be something new. That did not go so well with…
On experiencing the fullness of existence
My husband and I and a friend of ours have been in conversation lately about life. We've discussed nihilism, faith, spiritual deserts, the importance of story, bearing a cross, and so much else. One question that came up this week was, how can we experience the fullness of existence? It was such a good question…
On self-annihilation and redemption
Three years ago, I watched a movie called Another Earth that struck me deeper than any other movie has. I tried writing about it at the time, but I just couldn’t express how much it resonated. Then last week, my husband and I watched another movie called Oslo, August 31st. Set in Norway, based on…
Black-out Poetry (Part 20)
How has been two and a half years since I last posted some blackout poetry?! Now that I'm back at the blogging game, I thought I would inaugurate it with some blackout poems, this batch coming from Carl Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Because this was his autobiography, it is full of dreams and psychoanalysis (as…
The best books I read in 2022
I’ve had to keep my head down and push forward this year, not coming up for air in any meaningful ways, yet despite this year being the most intense year of my adult life, professionally- and scholastically-speaking, I was still able to sustain my first and most abiding love of reading (even if I had…
The best books I read in 2021
This has been quite a year. I started a graduate program, I got married, I moved, I started a new job, and I now live in the same town as my grandparents, parents, two sisters (and brother-in-law), and 2-year-old niece. I have had very little free time to do anything, but I have still managed…
Seeking in the desert (a poem)
You will never fully get the sand out of your hair when you live in the desert. You will never have enough water. You will smell, because you will be dirty. But you won’t leave. You are looking for something; you are waiting. This is all you get; this is your inheritance: dust and illusions.…
The best books I read in 2020
It's that time of year again where I compile a list of all the best books I've read since January and share them for anyone in need of a recommendation. I list them in the order I read them, so they aren't ranked from best to worst or listed alphabetically or even by publication date.…
The timeliness of Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard speech
For months, I have inwardly debated writing something about the times we are living in and have— until now— come out on the side of keeping my thoughts to myself. But I just read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s commencement address to Harvard in 1978, and the prescience and relevance to our own era are too uncanny not…
Silence (a poem)
Silence is not the same as absence. I thought truth could be spoken, but it turns out it can't. It hides in words, can only be approached by metaphor, paradox, what can't be explained. 'What is truth?' Pilate asked Jesus, but Jesus said nothing. Even Pilate was surprised.
Black-out Poetry (Part 19)
Back at it with Swann’s Way by Proust, I made some more poems from the tome. (The first series of Swann’s Way blackout poems are posted here— it will be quite a while before I run out of material to use from this book.) Still at a loss for anything to write about in prose…
Words Not Made with Lungs 