Reading + Writing Recently

Lord, my daughters sing along to the Mama Mia soundtrack, to Taylor Swift, and to One Direction as though they are singing hymns. Help me to remember I sang along to Salt-n-Pepa, “The Humpty Dance,” and, “Booty Call,” with the same conviction. Help me to remember the night on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico when I heard Shock G’s voice declare, “Alright stop what you’re doin’,” and I was in the bathroom and I did stop what I was doing because dear Lord I would not miss a chance to dance on the shore – on the shore You created – of the Caribbean Sea with Celena – again – as we yelled into the salty air, “See, so yo world I hope you’re ready for me!” -“Prayer in the Time of Midriff”

What struck me about the exercise was that the more we asked why, the longer and more reflective the answers became. Consequently, our understanding of why he might’ve done this deepened. – “Because Poems”

That night I rode home under a sky that was a dusky grey-blue, even at 9:30 at night, and here is something simple that made me happy. I could still see the green on the leaves, and I could still see cracks on the streets. I could see the white of my handlebars and the new red on the tomato plants that were growing in the front lawns of homes where, in a couple of months, college students would live. -“Simple Poems for Frustrated Writers”

It is mystery that writers ought to concern themselves with. How do we render onto paper not what we hear but what we cannot hear? What is the story for what we do not know? I believe we look for it in doubt, fear, and uncertainty. -“Things Too Wonderful”

Lucas’s roots in the CRC include family connections, attendance at Calvin Christian High School, Calvin University, and Calvin Seminary, and serving as an ordained minister for 12 years. “I feel at a deep level a sense of belonging,” he said. “In addition, I greatly appreciate the theological approach of the CRC, particularly its dedication to scholarship and to being both Reformed and reforming. It was because of my biblical and theological education in the CRC that I was able to change my understanding about being gay, come to peace with myself, and conclude that God blesses the marriages of gay couples.” – “Grand Rapids Church Celebrates Reconciliation with Chaplain to LGTBQ+ People”

I don’t think the point of a story is to solve a problem, anyway. I’m not interested in the point of things these days, and especially in July. I’m interested in trying to hold still when the undertow of Lake Michigan tugs at my ankles, and I’m interested in letting go and sliding into the water. I’m interested in the tang of nostalgia I taste when I pop blueberries into my mouth or bite into a white peach. I’m interested in shifting myself on a beach towel so the curves of the sand hug the curves and hollows of my body and I close my eyes, and I settle myself somewhere different for a little while. -“Summer Reading for K-Lav and Crew”

“I remember now/the gospel the instructor ignored-/how the cypress floor danced/with golden dust in its hair.” Tornado Drill Poems by Dave Malone

A friend gave this book to me because, “You’re always prompting people. Time to prompt yourself.” Project 1. 2. 3. A Daily Creativity Journal for expressing yourself in lists of three. by Paris Rosenthal and Amy Krouse Rosenthal

“Who can unravel the essence, the stamp of the artistic temperament! Who can grasp the deep, instinctual fusion of discipline and dissipation on which it rests!” -Thomas Mann Daily Rituals edited and with text by Mason Currey (I read one entry a day and write a one sentence response about the artist I read about in my planner.)

“She had never before seen the sky so red and gold. Above the opposite ridge stretched an enormous cloud; it was shaped like a bird’s wing, glowing from within like iron in the forge, and gleaming brightly like amber. Small golden shreds like feathers tore away and floated into the air. And far below, on the lake at the bottom of the valley, spread a mirror image of the sky and the cloud and the ridge. Down in the depths the radiant blaze was flaring upward, covering everything in sight.” Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

“I read the book in 2019, the year after it was published, and after Reese Witherspoon made it a selection of her enormously popular book club. I was surprised that its themes so obviously echoed aspects of Delia Owens’s life in Zambia. Crawdads is the story of a girl in 1950s North Carolina who, through a series of improbable events, is forced to raise herself in an isolated swamp. Kya Clark, the protagonist, is, like Delia, a naturalist and loner, who, for reasons too involved to explain here (however: spoiler alert), commits what is described as a righteously motivated murder of a caddish local bigshot, Chase Andrews.”- “Where the Crawdads Sing’ Author Wanted in Questioning for Murder by Jeffrey Goldberg