Category Archives: Poetry

George Danko to John sj about two great poets, one mentoring the other  in George’s New Jersey home town. “It turns out that Williams, despite fragile health in his later years, mentored younger poets at his home.   One of them was … Continue reading →

Wednesday,  July 8, 2020 I began learning to teach as a 24-year-old kid at Holy Rosary Mission on Pine Ridge in South Dakota.  My life daunted me pretty much every day – so much I didn’t know about teaching, or about … Continue reading →

Monday,  July 6   {first posted August 14, 2017} “Unbeaten by the rain Unbeaten by the wind Bested by neither snow nor summer heat” Some years ago, browsing “A Week of Being Here,” Kenji Miyazawa met me for the first … Continue reading →

Monday, November 14   Shiraz, “the oldest sample of wine in the world” Poet Fatema Keshavarz reaches deep in time so she can lift up the beauty of Shiraz, her home city in Iran.   Shiraz has lived as a center … Continue reading →

Monday, June 29 –   “And no his neighborhood is not like a war zone” We, who live and work in Detroit, 8 Mile Road down to the River, live with many perceptions of Detroit.  Jamaal May’s “There are Birds Here” was … Continue reading →

Friday, June 26, 2020 “to cry for a vision is a sacred task” The Lakota expression “hanblechia” means “he or she cries out for a vision.” It is the name of one of the most sacred Lakota rituals.  It begins … Continue reading →

Wednesday, June 24, 2020 “But how can they believe me? When sometimes I don’t even believe myself. Maybe it’s time to be loud.” No strong poem is ordinary;  Maria’s surely is not ordinary either.  I am proud that the “Work … Continue reading →

Monday, June 22 – Joseph A. Brown, S.J. written for a Jesuit soul friend Joshua Peters, celebrating Joshua’s ordination as a priest on June 20 of this year. And Here I Stand on Fire “two women wiped my face held … Continue reading →

From Friday May 22, 2015 – “Balancing Our Economic Realities with Our call to the Margins” – – 2015 Heartland-Delta Virtual Conference “Last evening 33 UDM women and men gathered in the Lansing Reilly front parlor area for a 3 hour conversation. … Continue reading →

Wednesday,  June 17 –  Dan Gerber, the courage we live in “How big is my heart, I wonder? How will it encompass these men dressed in black?” I’d looked at two or three poems before this one ran into me. … Continue reading →