Girl at the Window – a poem by Marilyn Grant

Girl at the Window I’ve had my share of sad stories, who hasn’t? Even now I see her still, that young girl kneeling on a stool by the window, watching always watching lonely longing unseen unnoticed her knees growing numb. But today living brave like the tireless hummingbird that’s what I want, that little marvel […]

Poetry – a poem by Seth Jani

Poetry Poetry was my first door to the spirit. Not religion. Not music. Not even the moon with its silver immolations. Though I never believed in magic or even the accidental spark of grace, you couldn’t say I wasn’t blessed or the recipient of blessings. I traced my lineage back through the library’s darkened shelves […]

Listening – a poem by Clayton Arble

Listening I Sitting on a fallen tree over the river, I heard the thin, ancient sound Of a cricket moving its wings. II I couldn’t spot him from the branch I was sitting on. He never moved Because the song never changed. III I decided to stay there a while. Huge mosquitoes hovered around me. […]

Dolmen – a poem by Marilyn McCabe

Dolmen – Gavrinis, France Arcs and arrows flicker in torchlight, chipped deep into granite and quartz. Cautionary tale, psalm, intercession to the gods, or an accounting perhaps of days and the earth’s trembling here, the hard bargains of water and rock. Meaning has been lost, though the makers were tapping so loud to be heard. […]

Assynt – a poem by Robert Ford

Assynt No longer allied to the wind’s assault, the rain relents, declaring an overdue cease-fire with the stoical rocks, the exhausted dunes of peat. It will be a fleeting peace; a window for the sheepish light to soften into, a mere candle-flash in the silence, but just enough for you to call negotiations with the […]

the beginning – a poem by Sister Lou Ella Hickman

Sister Lou Ella Hickman has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and new verse news as […]

Unbound – a poem by Stephen Kingsnorth

Unbound He came to me mid-afternoon, a frosty day, the sunshine weak, twig filtered light, skeletal branch, bare bones undressed, the awkward joints not camouflaged, thick foliage. Disciple of uncertainty, he came in mood, confessional, not by me judged, found-wanting creed – surprised to find self-reassured, as journeyed over common ground. The judgement lies where […]

After the Storm – a poem by Diane Elayne Dees

After the Storm After a sudden storm, when the viridescent sky darkens and the limbs cease cracking, a Christmas tree ornament gleams near a giant limb dangling from a small tree. I reach for the wayward bough, but am stopped in my tracks. It is a rain-soaked hummingbird, this tiny jewel. Frozen in place, we […]

Moonrise – a poem by Kyle Laws

Moonrise —after a photograph by Barbara Jabaily Below the dam, the moon skips stones across not a pond, but a reservoir where time is buried along with the tops of cottonwoods to tangle if you dive overboard. Buried in layers of limestone that crumble as you scale the top of a ridge is another sea […]

Home Territory – a poem by Stephen Kingsnorth

Home Territory (Reflecting on Painting: Rejection at Nazareth) I wonder if he always occupied the same synagogue seat, his sabbath set in childhood, as with a pew rental place. Did he ever dig a rib at some trilling cantor’s pitch, or sigh along with longer psalms, stifle his gaping mouth, or muse on a protuberance, […]