Jun 12Member-onlyA Tangled WadWhat I’m learning from losing my home, the Grateful Dead’s music, & writing — “This sounds like a tangled wad of hair.” That’s what my dad said as he leaned forward from the back seat of my minivan as we cruised down I-80 across Nevada on our way back to Wyoming from celebrating his 80th birthday in his favorite place, Bolinas, California. I laughed…Life7 min readLife7 min read
Jun 8Member-onlyThe Dark Edge of WonderWonder lives in a sky bursting with stars and in the difficult places too… — The words, dark edge of wonder, came to me while writing into a difficult story. A few weeks prior, I’d interrupted a family tabletop game of Wingspan to tell my adult daughter, her boyfriend, and my niece and her husband about Torin, the sixteen-year-old boy I wrote a letter to…Wonder6 min readWonder6 min read
May 1Member-onlyto the end of the journeya free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — “I love the idea that our houses might incorporate a threshold to the Otherworld; that the liminal hole in the side of an old Scandinavian house might actually be a portal to another world…” — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude When I saw her long body of Facebook posts splayed with so much perfect…Poetry3 min readPoetry3 min read
Apr 28Member-onlyto be aira free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — [Old Women] are the Earth, and the Earth is us. That is the nature of the deep, embodied knowledge which we can pass on to our young. — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude Let there be sky awe and sigh bird flight be moved and shaped taken away by everything butterfly wing mountain ridge sunshine persistent low pressure conduct bird song sand starlings come from everywhere come…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 27Member-onlyto not be sorry for the overgrowtha free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — Just like all the best hags in all the best old stories, she was both ancient and young at the same time. — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude Today, for the first time, I did not apologize to the massage therapist for my hairy legs, didn’t say these are my winter calves. I just…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 25Member-onlyto the lost poema poem in haiku for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — i. city of hard chairs back pain, field of resistance it’s safe here in bed ii. a new mattress too soft, so i sink way down in the sun shine so loud iii. there is a fresh poem and lavishly buttered toast turning me so soft iv. subtle body thoughts digging…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 22Member-onlyto becomea free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — The transformation that follows is for sure, in some ways about shape-shifting: about taking on new forms, remembering that we are two-legged animals, learning a new way of being in the world, a new tuning-in to the rhythms and seasons of this planet. Only then can we truly become creatures…Earth Day2 min readEarth Day2 min read
Apr 21Member-onlyto the place between right and wronga free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — “Whenever a society believes strongly in its own moral righteousness, superiority, or entitlement, the collective Shadow is likely to be present in spades…” — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude Before I went in, I waited in the car in no real hurry to go. Tiny buckeye buds hovered above my head, yellow sunlight grabbed at…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 19Member-onlyTo My Oldesta free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — “In order to be a truth-teller, you don’t have to anchor yourself firmly to one side of an impossibly divisive debate… — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude When I can’t cut my toenails anymore, can’t tweeze the thick white hair that grows where my chin mole used to be, or write the poem I want…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Apr 17Member-onlyto believe in things that seem fraila free verse poem for Crucible: the stone womb of elderhood — “She captured my heart from the moment I first saw her, battered and leafless, on the cusp of a still-frosty spring.” — Sharon Blackie, Hagitude It’s taken this long to taste the hurt hidden in something new. But this is the only medicine now as the cosmic pulse quickens. …Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
