Author Archives: janishaag

Because she requested it for her 90th birthday party at the end of this week, and because she completes nine decades on the planet today (happy birthday, Ma!), I am practicing cheesecake. My sister asked our mother what kind of … Continue reading →

(for Georgann) Cheesecake is easy, you say. Everyone says that, I chuckle, but not if you’re as cooking impaired as I am. You make good brownies, you point out—you, who when you feel up to it, rise and head for … Continue reading →

You have traveled too fast over false ground;Now your soul has come, to take you back. Take refuge in your senses, open upTo all the small miracles you rushed through. Become inclined to watch the way of rainWhen it falls … Continue reading →

She lived as a fire and went as a coal on the hearth, yearning for more tinder until there was not one single thing left but the ash of her body and the curling smoke of her will, rising up … Continue reading →

for Dani This requires mathand, as a writing teacher,I do not math.But let’s give it a go,shall we? Give it the oldcollege try, as theyused to say. Taught my first classin 1984—so that’s(counting on fingers)37 years. But a coupleof those … Continue reading →

By my rough estimate I have attended no fewer than 24 graduations in my lifetime. Four of those were mine, if I count the eighth grade ceremony where I sang a warbly version of “Bless the Beasts and the Children,” … Continue reading →

It seems as if in March 2020 we all got swept into a fast-moving stream at the same time the world shut down—an oxymoron if there ever was one. Go home, stay home, figure out how to teach from home, … Continue reading →

So we’re really tired of the masks, right? We figure we’ve done our time in them, bunches of us have been vaccinated, or we’ve got our immune systems functioning well. Enough with the masks already. I think this every time … Continue reading →

Every morning I walk into my kitchen and look out the window of the back door to see Mary’s murals smiling at me. I didn’t know murals could smile, though I knew they could make me smile. But I swear … Continue reading →

“…we are always fish in the belly of the whale of earth.We are encased and can’t stray from the house of our bodies.” —from “Spring,” Jim Harrison for Kristie McCleary But what if you could find your way out of … Continue reading →