Playing catch with Priya, also known as random updates with some Proto-Indo-European tossed in just ‘cause

We must remember that music is more than sound and clamor; it is rest, the silence between notes. I suppose it’s a bit of a fallow time for me, creatively. I continue to plug away at my daily poems – and share them here, albeit not in order – and practice the sitar. I sing […]

The battlefield and the garden: Or, the can you kick eventually rebounds off an existential crisis

two hands grip the tsukaand two cradle the riflewhat gentle hand, then, tends the peony?What weary arm can hold the spade? I’m thinking about leaving martial arts, and it’s hurting my heart. Translation from Amhrán-ese: When I say things like “it’s hurting my heart,” that means that it’s upsetting me to the point that I […]

On despair: Of soul wounds, Omelas and the Deal With It Never drawer

We wear the mask that grins and lies,It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,This debt we pay to human guile;With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,And mouth with myriad subtleties. — Paul Laurence Dunbar I don’t know about you, but once upon a time, I found a very useful place inside myself – a keep-it-all space, […]

In a dark time: On yearning, what breaks you and the inexpertly executed art of peace

What’s madness but nobility of soul At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire! I know the purity of pure despair My shadow pinned against a sweating wall. That place among the rocks—is it a cave, Or winding path? The edge is what I have. — Theodore Roethke, “In a Dark Time” It’s strange how […]

Gift and danger: On ‘highly sensitive people,’ diagnosable nutjobs and Schnoogie

All virtues have a shadow. – Elaine Aron When I was in my 20s, I read a book that was making the rounds: Elaine Aron’s The Highly Sensitive Person.It was a popular book at the time and Dr. Aron (along with her spouse, the other Dr. Aron) has built her career on what she calls “sensory processing […]

Tank Girl’s Here with your ride: On the healing power of defiance

Memes and Facebook posts fascinate me, even though they occasionally annoy me. I keep coming back to the online discussions of “neurodivergence,” which I’ve written about before in relation to social hierarchies. “Neurodivergent” requires a standard from which to diverge. What, then, is the “neurotypical” ideal in our culture, when you add up the memes, the […]

The Sword of Shannara: The lies behind authoritarianism and the healing power of truth

We build too many walls to be completely honest with ourselves. ― Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara I’ve been a fantasy buff since plucking The Hobbit off my elementary school bookshelf at the age of seven. At nine, I ploughed through the entire Lord of the Rings series, with which I was obsessed; I followed that up at the age of […]

The heart as an angler-fish, and other tales of human worth

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ― Jeremiah 17:9 There comes a point in Unitarian Universalist bible study where you just throw up your hands and go, “Seriously, what the fuck?” This spring, when cleaning up after the ninja bathroom evangelists at my town park, I came across […]

Just like magic: How to fix your whole damn life in just one step

Stay awkward, brave and kind, y’all – Brené Brown Scene one: Awkward spiritual interlude In the trance vision, I slump on the worn wooden bench beside Brighid’s well. “I don’t like how I acted,” I say, hanging my head. She smiles and sits beside me. “Then the solution is clear, yes? Just don’t act that way again.” […]

For the love of heresy: Why I don’t believe in belief

People often ask me if I believe in the Goddess. I reply, ‘Do you believe in rocks?’ It is extremely difficult for most Westerners to grasp the concept of a manifest deity. The phrase ‘believe in’ itself implies that we cannot know the Goddess, that She is somehow intangible, incomprehensible. But we do not believe in rocks — we may see them, […]