Author Archives: janishaag

How is it that my little sister is a grandma,and her husband (that cute blonde guy whoplayed baritone sax in the college night band)is a grandpa? And that they made a Lauren, and Lauren(with Gerald) made a Henry (and now … Continue reading →

The human heart beats 100,000 times a day,40 million times a year, and up to3 billion times in an average lifetime. Butterfly hearts beat hundreds of thousandsof times a day, and up to 1 billion timesin their abrupt lifetimes. But … Continue reading →

I cannot tie my shoes,which Mrs. Shaw tells allthe mommies that wekindergarteners in her classmust be able to do. But I can read “The Cat in the Hat”all the way throughall by myself, and I can write mywhole name:Janis Linn … Continue reading →

Outside in the dark,before I turn on the lightinside the garage, I stop in the chill,listen to them chatter overhead,geese on the move, a large flock, not just a honkhere or there, but the aviancall and response, a chorus of … Continue reading →

(for the California Northstate University medical students, class of 2025) I set containers of gummy Xs and Osmixed with jellybean heartson the tables where you will curlover new notebooks and fresh pens,you soon-to-be doctorswriting your art out. “It’s all about … Continue reading →

When I’m told to hum in a seaof hummers, I think first of the birdswhose wings thrum the air,of the delight when one flies intomy airspace and hovers like aniridescent helicopter, rotorswhirring, before it dashes off. And now, in this … Continue reading →

Well, hot damn,if I’m not writing the final checkto the bank to make this old housemine for real. And all I can think of is,Did you ever think you’d see this?No, you did not, leaving the partyearly, as you did, … Continue reading →

How do we live so exposed,like a roll of film that, once opened,can no longer render an image? The bare scaffolding of a tree, itsspidery legs no longer encasedin earth—how does it survive? As we must—by sending a singlesturdy taproot … Continue reading →

I understand the need for some bucking upin the dark times, the impulse to light candleshalfway between the winter solstice andspring equinox— the tradition of renewal in Candlemasor Imbolc, as the seeds of spring beginto stir in the belly of … Continue reading →

Nightly we travel back and forthon a gentle ancestral river,swimming together in warm water—no rapids or rocks in sight—those who’ve come and gonelending me their insight. They do not speak, but theysmile, hum, wink, as if we sharesecrets, which, I … Continue reading →