Author Archives: janishaag

for Mary Mackey I follow her down the path by the river,her river, the one she and her late husbandcanoed, where they swam and soaked upall manner of nature, when they weren’t teaching or traveling to the Amazonfor research—him the … Continue reading →

for Henry, great nephew-to-be You will not remember this bythe time you are old enough to remember,but you should know that while you were still cooking inside your mama,you were already adored by peopleyou would grow to call by name: … Continue reading →

for Lisa Now that she’s gone, you tell me,you sense that there’s more you shouldhave said, more you should have asked, but she has died after a long life,and you can’t begin to think of all youwish you’d said, much … Continue reading →

There’s an obesity of roses weighingdown the stems in my back yard,drenched by winter’s oh-my-god-not-more-rain deluges so rare in theseparts that the lawn morphed into amonths-long lagoon. The roses live just off the lagoon, whichhas at long last receded, giving … Continue reading →

for Julia Ellen Cook,July 15, 1916–May 9, 1998 Honey, she’d say,in a voice that still comes to mewaking and dreaming, Honey, you have to choose to stay.You just can’t leave. I was 22 and 100 pounds and passing out for … Continue reading →

for Timi On a breezy May afternoon,driving down a street I oncetraversed regularly to and fromthe college, where I taught so many kinds of people—the very young,the not-so-young, the middles, the latermiddles, the young old, the middle old and,lucky for … Continue reading →

They had me at London. And Writers.They write online at 8 a.m. London time,12 a.m. for me. I’m up till midnightanyway when I post the day’s poem,so when the message pops up, Writers’ hour starts in 15 minutes, with a … Continue reading →

You’ve traveled this far on the back of every mistake.— Dorianne Laux, from “Antilamentation” So list ’em. Write ’em down. C’mon, you’ve keptsome of them—too many of them—wrappedaround your heart like rusty barbed wire, and if you make a list … Continue reading →

—The Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress,author of Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Sacred Tool Walking the pathwith nine othersis different thanwalking alone, which is how Iusually come tothe labyrinth,solo, my preferred way, undistractedby others ontheir journeys.Today, though, … Continue reading →

The itch that demands a scratchright in the middle of the back,the spot no amount of arm twistingcan reach, sends bears backing upinto trees to shimmy into rough barkjust right for scraping away annoyance. The irritation that sends dogs into … Continue reading →