Author Archives: janishaag

(for Donna and Eric Just’s41st wedding anniversary) ••• Cherishing is love with its sleeves rolled up.—Gregory Boyle You two make it look easy,always have, for four decadesplus a year now. And while the rest of us don’t see allthe behind-the-scenesgoings-on, … Continue reading →

(for Shelley Burns, who brings happinessto so many, especially when she sings) “Forget your troublesand just get happy,” she sings.“You better chase all your cares away.” We walked carrying our cares, totingheavy concerns and fears, but whenShelley sings at the … Continue reading →

She smiled when she asked, her7-year-old self so serious, so sincere, and like all grownups confronted withhard questions we haven’t answered for ourselves, I said, “It just stops.”And she said, “No more lub-dub?” because she had heard herslub-dubbing away through … Continue reading →

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 →