Author Archives: janishaag

I said some words to the close and holy darkness,and then I slept.—from A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas In that close and holy darkness,yours,may memories arise in dream form: the wool-white bell-tongued ballof holidays resting at the rimof … Continue reading →

for Sue and Donnaand our parents Look what I found:pages from our childhoodbible, the one that arrivedin fall and we pored overfor weeks, working (at leastin theory) on Christmas liststhat we’d present to parentswith our eternal hope— pages selling trolls … Continue reading →

Twin Palms / Palm Springs They’re everywhere here,flitting about so fastI mistook them for butterfliesthe first days I walkedthe neighborhood. But ifyou pause, wait, you mightsee one land. After a day spent in bed, felled by something (not that thing)that … Continue reading →

said the hand-written signin a shop in the old movie-set western town, and I looked closelyto see what I might identify, not being well-versed in anatomy,and then I thought, I hope these came from animals, as I detectedbleached vertebrae and … Continue reading →

Who put them there? I askedthe postmistress of Pioneertownon the afternoon of the winter solstice. I meant the old typewriters rustinginto artifacts in the old West-movie set town,placed by someone more than a decade earlieratop kids’ small desks, the kind … Continue reading →

in a warm place… well, warmer than home,where, on the shortest day, we understandit’s doing a fine imitation of winter—the kind of winter we get, which is to say,cold and dreary and gray, cold enoughfor snow but sea-level elevation to … Continue reading →

for the first time—woo hoo!—and though no one in the familywanted to ask, we were quietlyhoping/wondering/imagining what it might be like to havea baby in the family again sincethe last baby is now 32 anda middle school band teacherwith a … Continue reading →

tonight, beginning the festival of lights,in tribute to friends and beloveds whocelebrate, honoring those rebelliousMaccabees, who reclaimed, cleansedand rededicated the temple, then relitthe single candle that continuouslyburned for eight days. It is that miracle and others I praiseon these darkening … Continue reading →

Two weeks ago it stopped,mid-cycle, as we aging machinescan do, and flashed a two-wordmystery at me: Pump block? How should I know? I said.But the washer ignored me,flashing its persistent messageuntil I turned its knob to off. I asked Leaman, … Continue reading →

Noun [man-swi-tood, -tyood]: mildness; gentleness Is it because he was a manthat I found this his mostattractive quality— his mildness, his gentleness,his great heart, which,by the time it stopped, had grown three times                                its normal size thanks tomalformed valves? What if … Continue reading →