Every cell of youContains my loveAs it always willEach moment of your lifeI have assessed my role In front of youAs you were learning to walkBeside youAs you walked confidentlyAnd later, traveling with youAs you mapped a path less taken If the tide were to have words,I imagine it responding to retreatRelease release releaseAnd advanceReach … Continue reading For my bird
Author: Cressey
Absolutely Six
A poem compresses much in a small space and adds music, thus heightening its meaning. The city is like poetry: it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines. The island of Manhattan is without any doubt the greatest human concentrate on earth, … Continue reading Absolutely Six
Space Time Life Review
When you travel,A new silenceGoes with you,And if you listen,You will hearWhat your heart wouldLove to say.A journey can become a sacred thing.Make sure, before you go,To bless your going forth,To free your heart of ballastSo that the compass of your soulMight direct you towardsThe territories of spiritWhere you will discoverMore of your hidden life;And … Continue reading Space Time Life Review
Milestones & Stepping Stones
“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.First to get go of life.Finally to take a step without feet.”- Rumi A few days ago, my girl turned twenty. Also few days ago, my erstwhile marriage turned thirty. With these simultaneous passages of time, I felt a … Continue reading Milestones & Stepping Stones
In Service
In the nation’s serviceIn the service of all nationsIn the service of humanity* In the The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion wrote about the passing of her husband, John Gregory Dunne ’54. Both writers, her sentences are charged with grief and with their shared wordsmithery. I have several scenes etched permanently in my memory: … Continue reading In Service
Digging for the Bone*, Ohio Part 8
The obstacle is the path.Tara Brach On January 1st, 2022, I pulled out the scrapbooks for the past year and scrolled through the pages. In many ways we are too close to see what we have done. In many ways each year is a lifetime. When I thought about a word for this year—a practice … Continue reading Digging for the Bone*, Ohio Part 8
Light
First, an admission: I am not putting up a tree this year. Once again, it’s that time of year when everything shifts to red and green. A mixed feeling seems to be housed in the hearts of many adults, while children, by and large, celebrate with abundance. For a long time I was one of … Continue reading Light
Culture and Defense
What art is, in reality, is this missing link,not the links which exist.It’s not what you see that is art;art is the gap.- Marcel Duchamp The first time was a small venue. We fumbled over the process of getting on our masks, pulling out IDs, finding vaccination cards on my phone, and the printed tickets … Continue reading Culture and Defense
To Bleed & To Heal
When she sees itFor the first time When she hopes she won’tAnd she does When she hopes she willAnd she does When she hopes she willAnd she doesn’t When she hopes she won’tAnd she doesn’t When she sees itFor the last timeDoes she know?(do we ever knowanythingis the last?) Most women likely understand and can … Continue reading To Bleed & To Heal
Dear Reader
"Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us."Meister Eckhart Dear Reader, You may have saved my life. I will explain. But first, a story. When I was in grammar school, I used to take piano lessons and … Continue reading Dear Reader
Where I End & She Begins 