Author Archives: janishaag

Fill in the blank:• cat (especially about my big guy)• flowers/tomatoes/Jan’s yard• tree• butterfly• companion spirit(s) But you get them anywaybecause they show up, fly in,even at the end of a season of fullness, so much plentythat I blush as … Continue reading →

(for Dick Schmidt) More than any other on the calendar,this might be your favorite holiday,now that I think of it, so me and the girls salute youby removing the booby trap,the over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder, the flopper stopper, the melon harness,the hooter hammock, … Continue reading →

Running vertically, splitting the night sky,the dark seam of interstellar clouds entwines the magic of the Milky Way,the inky river meeting the smidgen of galaxy our eyes can perceive.Not a division or a disagreement amping into argument or war,it’s a … Continue reading →

“Live in the layers,not on the litter.”—Stanley Kunitz, from “The Layers” ••• Walking the labyrintha week after you lead a walk there,you do not have to go far beforeyou find a small stone heart. You leave them for the walkers,tossing … Continue reading →

Begins with eyeblinks and uncovering, with sitting, perhaps with dislodging the dog/cat/loved one sleeping close. It begins with rising, the first moment of being vertical, for some of us with the first blush of sun, for others, if we are … Continue reading →

(for Dickie) It was an offhand, off-the-top,unthought-out remark decades ago,dashed off as we zoomed toward our destination,the oldest, still-standing hotelin the national park, him driving roads he knew well,me riding shotgun. We hadto meet someone or check in at a … Continue reading →

Someone told me that during evolutionfish scales turned into bird feathers, which perhaps explains why birdsemerge wet from their shells, pecking their way out of waterto breathe, and eventually fly, in mere air. Though we are notborn with feathers, humans, … Continue reading →

For the second concert of the semesterI pull the red mallets out of their plastic sleeve,hard, round balls that can strike a note on the orchestra bells like clear,shining silver. Which puts a little pressureon the bells player to get … Continue reading →

The story goes that when Rose’sGreat Aunt Emily and family immigrated from Italy, Emily (who was considered“wild” in her youth) got a tattoo on her arm proclaiming “America.”Emily’s niece Alma inherited the sax and kept it, thinking that her daughterRose … Continue reading →

What do you remember about that day,forty-two years ago, when you faced each other and promised what you could not possiblyknow to promise? And yet you kept those promises and added to them, pebble by pebble,along the path of what … Continue reading →