In Faith and Gardens and Appalachia
1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue—4 those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?” 5 “Because the poor […]
On Folly Beach, a wave knocked me over, and I went from being a person gleefully wading into the ocean to a panicked girl screaming about her phone. That iPhone never came back to life, and I lost some fantastic pictures of my parents seeing the ocean for the first time in decades and cool […]
The Architecture of Our Blood by Amanda Wenisch I can learn nothing from treesabout the architecture of our blood.What use is there in tracing back a lineto Scottish chicken farmers, hungry Irish, or curly-headed Brits?I know it full in my prints —the anger in the angles,the beams of thick spiritual zest,the floors muddy and beaten […]
7.14.15 by Amanda Wenisch Squash blossoms open into five-point starsAnd wave in a constellation from the garden, promising fruit soon.Today, New Horizons showed us Pluto after soaring through space for nine years.It shakes loose in me some doubt of God.How can in this vastness anything be sure?How can anything see me, know me, love me, […]
Is it appropriate to put “disassociation” as a skill on your resume? I’m starting with a joke because this is not what I wanted to publish today. Wild Geese by Mary Oliver You do not have to be good.You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting.You only […]
I am a big fan of being in control. Just truly a huge fan of planning and coordinating and timing things so they go off perfectly. I literally itch and squirm in discomfort when a well-planned thing doesn’t go well. This characteristic has served many employers well, but I swiftly burn right out. I am […]
You Shall Feed Her by Amanda Wenisch Hike to the back mountain.There where the wild trilliums grow on the creek bank, steep.They bloom through the dead leaves, white bursts of promise.You will have to straddle the ground to steady yourself, squat low to get them. A snake may crawl about your ankles.Braid the stems into […]
As I sat in my car this past August, in the rain, in a cemetery where I could not locate my mawmaw’s grave, I wept for this intense emptiness that had taken residence in my heart and soul. I felt it even in the pits of my body, manifesting in exhaustion and aches. Mawmaw has […]
The blooms get all the glory. But those buried, hidden bulbs that hold energy through frozen darkness, that allow themselves to spark new shoots when the time is right, that root the beauty of each spring with no praise – those do all of the magic. I think of the Kingdom of God, always there […]