Precious Cargo: Creation Flower
When Sylvia and I were planning our recent visit to South Africa, a garden committee at nearby Lake Junaluska Retreat and Conference Center asked if we might select, purchase, and arrange for shipping of a stone sculpture suitable for their Welcome Center’s “Biblical Garden.” When Sylvia had overseen the art for the Welcome Center at [...]
Mountain Mysteries
Much of South Africa lives in the shadow and the inspiration of mountains — Table Mountain, the Drakensberg, the Winterberge, and many more that lie between the oceans and the great desert plains of the Karoo. They formed the boundary between the settlers and most of the indigenous peoples. They were the door to liberation [...]
Zebras, Robots, and Homer
After a five year absence we have returned to our beloved Cape Town, land of the humped zebra. No it’s not a cross between a dromedary and a zebra. But it does cause a real bump in the road if you hit it. And if you don’t obey the lights at the “robot” at the [...]
The Mesabi
Minnesota’s Mesabi Range is historically the largest deposit of iron ore in the world. Arcing across the northeastern part of the state, it has been delivering iron ore to America’s steel mills since the end of the nineteenth century. The city of Hibbing lies at its center. All I knew of Hibbing while growing up [...]
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wood upon a lathe, these poems are word-turnings that reveal the inner grain of our human experience. They are bowls to catch our turnings of memory, conversion, falling in love, and passing through our seasons and the wrenching turns that mark our lives. Above all these turnings are a shout of praise, a murmur of wonder, a turning away from life as usual, a merciful re-turning to the songs, images and stories that move our lives.
Red Clay, Blood River