Well-Stars: The Second Installment

Cyrulla murmured “What is it, Maerion?”
Maerion answered as quietly: “I felt that I saw into the future, and knew that none of us would ever be this happy again.”
The boy raised his thoughtful eyes to the horizon outside the open door, but the gazes of Cyrulla and Perspice flew to the Balcony in the Upper Salon where [...]

Read Full Post »

Poem IX: After Justin’s Final Rejection, Holly Brightweed Contemplates Becoming a Nun; Her Mother Cautions Her

(Mother)
“But not
to love,
who had
no thought
but love,
begot
of love?
It’s sad.”
(Holly)
“That I
who have
a heart
laid by
should salve
my smart
alone
and die
two ways
unknown?”
This high
I raise
my goal:
to hate
my life.
My soul
will mate
with strife.
And still
when all
is said,
I choose
so fine
a pain!
To lose
all mine
and gain
my fill
of All
instead!”
(Mother)
“But when
you’ve done
all this,
your All
may still
include
the men -
The One;
The Kiss;
the fall;
the thrill -
God’s good.”

Read Full Post »

Right Laughter

Something funny.
 Here all this time I’ve been telling people we’re Orthodox Chatecumens…and then this Sunday I find out that it’s a formal ceremony you go through. The formal announcement of our “engagement” to become part of the Orthodox Church is set for two weeks from yesterday…i.e. the next time we’re at Liturgy. In our hearts [...]

Read Full Post »

In Which I Protest that While Film is an Excellent Genre in its Own Way, A Written Story is an Entirely Different Form

Enough.
I’m through with these silly rules.
I can’t help but notice that a Short Story or Novel is composed entirely of words. I must therefore conclude that a story-writer’s methods ought not to be polluted by the methods of Screenwriters.
Admit it, friends. “Showing” vs. “Telling” has very little to do with good writing as millenia of authorship demonstrate. With which you [...]

Read Full Post »

How Jonathan Edwards Sped Me on the Road to Orthodoxy

“Not only does the sun shine in the saints, but they also become little suns, partaking of the nature of the fountain of their light.”  – Jonathan Edwards 
Those who “know” me on the web know that before I came to Orthodoxy I was a staunch Edwardsian Calvinist. Other Orthodox often assume that this was a [...]

Read Full Post »

Getting Kids to Eat, Lesson Two: Using Water

Johnny has been eating eggs a lot lately but I’ve been worried he hasn’t been getting enough carbs. Apparently Cheerios are now too boring to eat. And I know well that trying to force a kid to eat something is the surest way to make him loathe that thing forever.
 This morning I tried a trick [...]

Read Full Post »

Google Searches that Brought Me Readers – Mean Poems to say to Enemies

One of the informative and sometimes hilarious things about having a WordPress blog is that you get to see how people stumbled on your work.
 I get a lot of search-engine hits from people (no clue who they are) looking for tips on how to get their toddlers to eat well – apparently my veggie post is [...]

Read Full Post »

Poem VIII: Afternoon World in Autumn

Dearest Maggie,
This afternoon I drove into the country.
Now tell me -
From vast curves
Would you not deduce movement?
Thus the moody hills
Through which I rushed
Forward
Put me in mind of a great hand
Fluidly sculpting
Sideways.
Add against a translucent wall
Of golden sky
A swirling torrent of blackbirds
Upward;
This afternoon world
Is enough to make a girl dizzy.
***
Crime longs for accomplices,
So I looked to [...]

Read Full Post »

Beside Still Waters He Restores My Soul

After some correspondance with our dear Father B— last night I’ve realized once again how lightly Christianity treads the tense wire between challenging and effortless.
Everyone has sins and failures. My own tend to be of that very obvious sort that everyone notices - which frustrates any subtle designs on my part to hide my faults and [...]

Read Full Post »

Why We Are Becoming Orthodox

Dear family, friends, and the curious,
Of the many reasons I could offer for our becoming Orthodox, I think the one that is most central for us, and that others  ought to respect most, is simply that we need it.
 Orthodoxy is teaching us how to pray, how to truly worship, and is giving us a plain [...]

Read Full Post »