Author Archives: janishaag

The song you heard singing in the leaf when youwere a childis singing still. — Mary Oliver from “What Can I Say?” If you bend near or stretch tall,put your ear close to the baby budbusily working to evolve—perhaps one … Continue reading →

for Dick Schmidt Only in a Hawaiian hospital,where he and I lodged for a fortnight,could one find tight white rice slabstopped with fried Spam drizzledin teriyaki sauce, bound in acrinkly green ribbon of seaweed. And after another mostly sleeplessnight—up every … Continue reading →

It will not always look like this,I remind myself as I walk, the lakeedging toward full, the bluest blue sky,the loose fringe of clouds over the hills. What I will miss most all too soonis when the green goes gold, … Continue reading →

From where I stand, sun-facing,toes-rising, hands chair-rooted,I study the black bird that flutters its way to the top of the treethree yards down from Marilyn’swhere Shelley bounces us oldies on the lawn through an hour’sworkout to the oldies. Focus on … Continue reading →

(for Maya Angelou, born April 4, 1928) Though I didn’t call her that,the two times I interviewed her,but oh, how her song reverberated, pinballing through my ribcage,the elegant woman onstage singingpart of her story, the notes charging into the audience … Continue reading →

Driving over the seasonal sea that washesunder the causeway, river overflowflooding rice fields before the crop is planted, I look at the little islands with their reedycrewcuts popping out of water. Pulling my eyes from the road, I searchfor a … Continue reading →

You’ve heard of two-fisted drinkers,but have you seen someone consumingboth liquid and banana creamat the same time in a novel way? Who does that?Annie does that, helped by Mama—nutrition easing down the tummy tubeand yummy cream down the hatch. Because … Continue reading →

so I park by the rocky slope ofMormon Island Dam rising intothe afternoon and start the climb,first along the service road thatslopes to the top for a wide-angleview of the lake, then veers uphillonto the path of spring aborning. I … Continue reading →

Yeah, you are. Even when you’re not feeling it. Because, you think, wonder is such a big word.Like awe. And awesome is so overused.How could you be a wonder? Because you think and speculate curiously,because you want to know. Because … Continue reading →

How do we thank the clouds for their fleeting abundance?—Pablo Neruda Too often, we take them for granted,those fluffy thought balloons driftinglazily by spring’s bluest curtain.We may praise the sun or think,What a beautiful day, but unless we lay ourselves … Continue reading →