The Dogwood Never Fails

Now Faith and Hope and Charity— Upon these three men all agree None greater can in heart reside. More fickle, though, are veins of wood, And tenderest April blossoms could (No lack of good intent besides) Be withered by an ill-timed frost Or by nor’easter be accost’d. The life of blossoms is not sure! The

Tulip People

Tulip people aren’t Crocus people. They don’t tweet out    slapdash signals of spring    at February’s first foray into the 50s. Tulip people are distinct from the Daffodil crowd— apart and unmoved, apparently unheralded    by spring’s delirious drum majors    and clamorous countryside. Tulip people aren’t Hyacinth hipsters     or Snowdrop snobs, nor

Apple Stickers

Yesterday I was driving to work and eating an apple. For the first time in my nearly 37 years, I wondered, “Who puts the little stickers on all the apples?” Who puts them on and when do they put them on? Do harvesters apply stickers as the apples are picked off the tree? Does someone

Route 31, 4:37 A.M.

On a Tuesday
at 4:37 A.M…

Magnolia Buds

Hang on, Magnolia buds, My dears! Hang on, Magnolia buds! Bear with this ill-timed Arctic air Withstand this undue frost. Nor let us come April into And fail to find thee there. March 28, 2022

April 9

There are three things which I do not believe— four that I will never understand: The ninny who announces that she doesn’t like bacon, the philistine who posits improvements of baseball, the charlatan who espouses a god in his own image, and the ogre who identifies his favorite season without stating first and foremost, unequivocally,

Walking Home from a New Jersey Diner

The sights and sounds of a tow truck are among those few things in life that evoke almost the same feelings in almost everyone in almost every situation. The somber whirring of the cables, the sharp clang of the hooks and chains, and the slow lurch of the vehicle onto the flatbed are each slightly

Wrong Way

The WRONG WAY road sign stands unique in the pantheon of road signs. Barely more verbose than the abrupt STOP, and definitively more forceful than the deferent YIELD, the WRONG WAY sign is alone unto itself. It does not speculate like BRIDGE MAY BE ICY, and it does not equivocate like SLIPPERY WHEN WET. No,

Such A Time As This

The books of I and II Kings read like current events. Weak, wicked kings capitulating to a wicked, rebellious populace. Strong, wicked kings leading eager subjects into further debauchery and idolatry. Cycle after cycle, a progression of increasing heinousness and decay. But sprinkled into the timeline are a few righteous kings who know the truth

The Last Bath

Will we know it when it happens? And (if so) how will we know? Will we know that we know? Will we be able to recognize it? . Will the moment herald itself   with the shout of an archangel? Or will we anticipate its coy arrival with   a kind of parental prescience? .