Collaborating with the Muses to inspire, create, and illuminate
Dear Readers, As my gift of thanks to you for engaging with All Nine through this past year, I share this excerpt from what I hope will one day be a full-length book of poems and prayers: In 2019, may your prayers be filled with Yes. Warmly, Kelly
It's all so messy - pine needles, tinsel, glass balls shattered, peace on earth *** Dark waiting: we make our own magic
WISH LIST Never wrote to Santa – never had to. I had my mom, and the Sears Wish Book fat and jolly and flipped flat open to toys and dolls, bicycles and skate boards. Mom never had to ask what I wanted – bent back corners made it clear along with penned arrows and asterisks. …
A PRAYER FOR THE DISILLUSIONED IDEALIST, the earthbound acrobat whose grip failed to close at the reach, and in failing fell below the beginning. May this new view give grounding as grace. Let unexpected friendships replace pseudo-saviors – and false expectations yield to merciful humility – for Your Name’s sake Amen ***** Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash
If only it were that easy. Simple one, two, three instructions, bada bing bada boom, there’s your poem. If only. What makes it so hard to explain how to write poetry is not that there’s so much more to it, but so much less. As I explained, kind of, in a poem recently on Literary …
How to Write a Poem (From Spare Buttons, 2014) First press your warm palm against the cool metal faucet let the water run cold, so cold it aches, now fill the kettle watch it boil, first slowly then rushing up at you in a panic; when it's reached the peak of mumbling like a crowd …
Remember your friend you met at that perfect unforgiving moment in college – or maybe it was your first years in a new job (or country, or church), when friendship was the only cure? Think – when was the last time you sat down for a long cup of coffee and conversation? When did you …
Maybe you like the slick metal weight of a pen leaning on your calloused index finger and the visceral scratch of connection with paper. Maybe you are more of a “clickety-clack-of-the-keyboard” kind of person. Choose. Then go to the beach. Not literally, no, of course not. Do you want to get sand stuck in your …
It's my honor to have been invited to serve as Poetry Editor for Literary Life, an online journal that seeks "truth at the intersection of the arts and faith through a discussion of ancient and contemporary literature." Yeah, that's my jam. Today's contribution to this publication is an exploration of the question, "What inspires you …
Prayer For An Offended World where no one is left who in truth can say, “How could you?” with authority, without a trace of irony. Return to us our shock and shame. Relieve us of our need to blame. Receive our sacrifice of self. Let us begin again. Amen. ***** Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash
