BY MARY DOWNES How Nikos Kazantzakis’ “The Last Temptation of Christ” changed my understanding of Christianity - at 24, Jesus of Nazareth became personal.
Category: Way-Seeking Mind
Breathing
BY SONIA TRICKEY We began our ascent of the South Cirque at 5:20am. Snow had fallen thickly overnight, the path was invisible and it was very dark. Most of us had barely slept.
In Praise of Winter Hiking
BY ANTHONY EMERSON December is here, and soon snow will fall and accumulate in amounts that must be measured in feet.
The Loss
BY EDWARD M COHEN I only write this down because it causes so much pain. It involves so much loss that in the moment, when I awake with no desire to rush for a pen, it’s hard to see the value in what is happening.
Gully and Bayou
BY NEIL ELLIS ORTS This farm boy wandered the acres of woods and explored the gully. I sat under the cedar that grew on a high bank, roots exposed, waiting for the right number of rains to let go.
Remember the Bear
BY JENNIFER CHRISTGAU AQUINO When the fall the sky turned orange from fire, and a pandemic roared, and the children lay in bed all day, and cancer took residence in your armpits, you found a bear in your basement.
Salamander
BY ELANA MARGOT SANTANA Yesterday I found a salamander resting or dying in my garden. Translucent blood red skin with yellow speckles, big black bulging eyes...
Ode to the Radio Telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Before its Collapse
BY MARY DINGEE FILLMORE You listen all the time to the whispers of faraway stars’ radio signals. They barely flutter, but you’re more sensitive than any other telescope in the world.
Sunset Meditation
BY JOHN BRANTINGHAM Sunset comes late in High Sierra Summers, and by the time it does, I’m usually done for the day.
My Backspaces
BY CHARLENE MOSKAL As I age I find I can no longer enter certain rooms. I see backspaces inhabited by specters of a world fading into my past.