Author Archives: janishaag

Surfers talk about it in termsof waves they’ve zigged and zaggedand ridden till the swell fades,dissolves into ocean. But poets shred, too, tearinginto language with high energyand skill. For those who surfwater or snow or concrete, they mean mastery of … Continue reading →

Every single one of us makes a difference every day —it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make. —Dr. Jane Goodall, scientist, conservationist, humanitarian(April 3, 1934–Oct. 1, 2025) ••• Listen: Fungus gets a bad rap.But … Continue reading →

Driving down H StreetTuesday midday when I cometo a dead stop behind several carsin a spot that is unusually backed up. I wait, wondering if there is a slow someonein the crosswalk ahead. Only when the single fileof cars begins … Continue reading →

He rings the doorbell hard, repeatedly,as if it’s an emergency, the original bellin this old house mounted in the kitchenpealing like a fire bell, insistentin a way that cannot be ignored, summoning me from wherever I am,from whatever too-important somethingI’m … Continue reading →

Did the first one come with meat birth? Or did I just beganpoeting without one assoon as my mother puta pencil in my hand? Certainly I didn’t wait untilI was sixteen to careeninto metaphor, stompon alliteration, speedinto images that, with … Continue reading →

(for Ed Cole) I walk by the ceramic vase by the windowwith a myriad of feathers emerginglike the tail of a hastily assembled bird— as if God had grabbed a brown-and-whitevariegated tail feather from a turkey,and the curving tiger stripes … Continue reading →

It is a strange and wonderful fact to be here, walking around in a body, to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you.—John O’Donohue ••• We talk about the re- (as in incarnation)with … Continue reading →

Cherishing is love with its sleeves rolled up.—Father Greg Boyle I circle the labyrinth on an overcast morningthe first week of fall as fifteen pilgrims maketheir way along the single circuitous path, many new to walking this singular pathto the … Continue reading →

(for Dickie) I count aloud like a kidlearning her numbers—one, two three, four, five pairs of specs on his table,not counting his shades,which are who knows where? I, who usually has more ofeverything, own just one pairfor the everyday along … Continue reading →

We walked the local auctiongrounds on weekends witha taste of teenage freedom,setting up shop for a fundraiser, the high school pep bandassembled to play some rousing’70s hits—oh, that lower brassopening of “25 or 6 to 4,” trumpetsjoining five bars in, … Continue reading →