Tag: life after loss

  • The Calendar Lies: A Poem

    The Calendar Lies: A Poem

    Any child knows the hazy, scorching monthsof June and July are theshortest of all, even though the summer light barely fazes the bats thatflitter from treetopto building, nigh onto eleven.Even though the size of the days is the same onthe page underneatha painting of a beach at sunset. Any bride knows thedays before her wedding…

  • I Bought A Hoop Today: A Poem

    I Bought A Hoop Today: A Poem

    A perfect $3 circle, itsends joined by a shinybrass screw, thehoney-colored hoopcalled me from the thriftstore shelf to jointhe other women who’vestuck a needle in andout, through fabricscarefully selectedand scraps savedto adorn orjoin with colorfulthreads in elegantchains and stitches orruler-straight lines.Someday, I, too, canuse this perfect hoop,a tool to help mepiece together theabandoned fabrics ofmy…

  • One Month Later: Knowing Myself is Crucial

    One Month Later: Knowing Myself is Crucial

    At 66, I’ve learned a thing or two. Much about teaching and learning, of course. Also a bit about succeeding and “failing.” And a good deal about myself, too. This past month has been the ultimate exam in how well I know myself. One thing I’ve learned during this past month of my new situation-…

  • Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Weather Delays

    Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Weather Delays

    On Wednesdays, I try to share passages from the 1866 diary of my third great-aunt, Mary Jane Edwards, whose journal has inspired my first novel: “Tuesday, May 8, 1866 This morning we undertook washing and during the day we succeeded in gathering the clothes into the rinse.  As it was rainy we did not put…