Category Archives: Uncategorized

(for the crew of Southwest flight 3361,Sacramento to Seattle, July 24, 2025) We rise in this soaring silver bird,aiming upupup, to a height humanscannot achieve unless encasedin such a magnificent beast. And I think of the early years of airtravel, … Continue reading →

When it’s your birthday month,gifts show up daily—oftena photo card emailed withsome version of your face(so many years of face tochoose from) on it. And one day you come hometo find a box with a bright bluehair dryer waiting for … Continue reading →

…sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing… —Galway Kinnell, from “St. Francis and the … Continue reading →

(for Gail and Amy) Odd things appear on the kitchen windowsill—this week two apricot pits that,if I had a compost pile, should go there,or perhaps tossed with the loose teain the flowerbed where the rangy volunteersmight find some sustenancein my … Continue reading →

Recall, friend,the thaw, the liftof elaborate freeze, the throb of salt,the steamof belong. Chant the cycleof ache, the curlof caress. How the blazeflew into overwhelm,with no regard for you, who gaveall to the onewho would abscond with your heart. ••• … Continue reading →

(for Donna and our parents) I never expected to see it,much less run across the roadon a trip home throughthe mountains, but came upon it veering offOmo Ranch Road, this forestedpiece of property our parentsbought decades ago, sold to the … Continue reading →

In the beauty of holiness,like dew from the womb of the morning,in silence and mystery,I have begotten you. —verse adapted from Psalms 110 ••• Beauty arrives every day,the holiest of things shrouded in silence and mystery, emergingfrom the womb of … Continue reading →

Dear Mr. Ross: I wish I could have been therea century ago, sitting in what I imaginewas your decidedly un-hip apartment,you brainstorming from a sprawling,padded armchair, your wife Janeat the typewriter—the two of youbirthing a magazine with input fromassorted writer … Continue reading →

When putting up a fence, consider addinga potential opening—maybe a gatethat doubles as a doorway, swinging in, swinging out to allow access.Or perhaps build an entire wall of doorsthat might open and shut at will, each different from its neighbor,each … Continue reading →

A departure for today… instead of a poem, a reminiscence of our friend and former Sacramento Bee colleague Walt Wiley, who died July 13. Sending much love and gratitude to him and to his many loved ones, especially his devoted … Continue reading →