Fencing Bear at Prayer

Our cities are in flames, and our citizenry is busy choosing sides against each other. Now is NOT the time to be giving into despair.  Next Sunday, August 2, at 12pmEST/11amCST, join me and an AMAZING panel assembled by Alice Maher, MD, and Niquie Dworkin, PhD, to talk about how we can change our public dialogue through respectful listening and conversation. You can register for the webinar and Facebook group at Changing Our Consciousness, Inc. Panelists include professionals in education, psychotherapy, and entrepreneurship. We come from a wide variety of faith backgrounds—Presbyterian, Catholic, African Methodist Episcopal, Hindu, Muslim, and Jewish—and from both the United States and abroad (U.K. and India). We have agreed to certain guidelines to facilitate our conversation: To speak for ourselves and from our own experience, using “I,” not “you,” when expressing our thoughts. To refrain from criticizing each other or attempting to convince each other that our vie...

My Telegram dragons and I have spent the past two weeks practicing our iambic pentameters — ti TUM ti TUM ti TUM ti TUM ti TUM . Our first exercise was 20 lines, no sense or rhymes, just getting a feel for the beat. These were mine: ༒☬POETRY WORK☬༒ I gave you lines to write in measured verse. Let’s see who came to play with metered lines. I asked for playful dragons to arise And sing their joyful praises to the stars. A steak, a plate, a fork, a fitful dream. A poet trains with pen and notebook blank. Perhaps we can an epic story tell Of dragons come to save the dying West. I know you have the tools you need to fly. Now share them in the chat so we can sing. My heart has broken far too many times To tell in such a public place as this. Mere hints of sorrow are the poet’s ink, The joy and laughter hidden in the pain. I long to sing to you of Mary Queen, But all I see is statues on the ground. A piece of prose, a song of hanging...