Fencing Bear at Prayer

  And he shewed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  And there shall be no curse any more; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.  And they shall see his face: and his name shall be on their foreheads.  And night shall be no more: and they shall not need the light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall enlighten them, and they shall reign for ever and ever.  —Revelation 22:1-5 * Image credits Left: magic crystals: Wise Witches & Witchcraft Center: The Lindau Gospels: The Morgan Library & Museum Right: motherboard:  HelloTech The Plug

The poets of the Dragon Common Room have spent the past five months researching their next adventure—a modern fantasy/horror epic written in the spirit of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. We have been practicing our stanza form and drafted our outline. The poem is going to be in five Acts...and include a dragon. Here we offer sample of our practice stanzas, to whet your appetite for the adventure to come!  Visit our website at DragonCommonRoom.com  for more information on our previous adventures, now on sale in both print and e-book at booksellers worldwide. A cloud of pigeons soared above the plain, propelled by tailwinds only they could sense. Below them stretched a land oppressed with rain, where souls were bought and sold for silver pence. A single tower rose, like steel incense, a rod for lightning sparks sent down by God. Within the rain the pigeon cloud condensed, and from the cloud a man appeared, unshod. The path that stretched before him in the rain was broad. At night, t

An exclusive interview with Professor Rachel Fulton Brown as you have never seen her—in conversation with one of her students from the University of Chicago. THIS is our brand. Phoenix rising! In [this] interview , I met with Rachel Fulton Brown, associate professor of History at the University of Chicago, regarding her 2017 book  Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought .  Over the course of the interview, we talked about the ancient Temple Tradition and its connection with the Virgin Mary and Christ. We also discussed J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, the psychology of devotion, the problem of portraying sin, the reality of the spiritual, and the re-enchantment of the world (made most obvious in the rhetoric surrounding January 6th).  It is discussions like this that make UChicago so unique. My peers and I are able to interact with the leading minds in the world on almost every subject imaginable. COVID, though, has severely impeded these inter