I was lucky to find myself in Arizona last week while Nashville – and the Midwest – shivered. I felt guilty about it. Shouldn’t I be suffering along with my friends, my family, my dog? That lasted for a minute…
Pepper and Poems
121 Articles
121
On my best days I feel more gratitude and less worry. Often those are the days I’ve puttered around my yard, a good dog not far away. She’s sniffing for the coyotes who have taken up residence in the thick…
Have you heard? Mary Oliver has died. The best beloved poet of our time? Yes. Maybe. But I’m sure – not only in my mind. She walked in beauty, like the night.
Sometimes you know exactly what lies ahead. ”Like on Christmas Eve,” Pepper said (watching me make sausage balls, licking her lips).
I was looking for a few last minute gifts when a small and lovely book of Christmas poems caught my eye. I love a book that fits in a pocket or in your purse.
On a cool autumn day at the beach, Pepper and I walked alongside huge grey boulders possibly left by giants. Pep was intrigued. Enchanted even. She sensed that something lay beyond them – just out of view.
This time of year my eyes find the leaves. Just like the people who go to Gatlinburg in the fall and every amateur poet who’s ever lived and I think maybe just about everyone else. We’re all in this together!…
I was thrilled when the Headmaster of my daughters’ boarding school asked me to give a chapel talk on the topic “Why Read” over Parents Weekend. What a lovely invitation! What an honor! I worked quite hard to write a…
On a hot, still day in September – a day that did not feel like autumn – the Great Black Oak in the backyard fell. It had grown at an angle most of its life, stretching out over the Rock…