Nightlight
When I was a kid, two Jabberwockies lived under my bed. Specifically of this variety: In later scenes, the cheesiness of the rubber suit is increasingly plain, but I didn’t care. I was terrified. I knew they were in my …
Brotherhood
I wrote this sonnet last week during a church prayer time for racial reconciliation. The prayer guide specifically called out Romans 12:9: “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” This got me spinning off into tangential thoughts about …
Mercy
I suspect I’m getting close to the point where I could publish a chapbook of poems just based on the book of Exodus and Israel’s eventual entry into the Promised Land. This poem was written for a November Poem a …
Crossing the Jordan
Today’s poem comes from the prayer journal I started after undergrad. Prayer journaling itself is an old habit that I recently revived; I started it in August 2004 and prayer-journaled or wrote a poem or reflected on whatever I had …
Mr. Tumnus
Just a little tribute to Mr. Tumnus from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and how utterly understandable his decision was to align himself with the White Witch. Live in security under a despot? That’s becoming increasingly, depressingly relatable. Mr. …
Haikus for Homeschoolers
Okay, not technically for homeschoolers. Today’s collection of haikus focus on my experiences in undergrad. I’m just posting them today in honor of all the parents who are trying to figure out how to homeschool or partial homeschool their kids this …
When the Sun Shines
In undergrad, every once in a while our profs would decide to teach class outside. As a lit major, we could usually find some justification about examining the natural world like the poets or something, but really, it was mostly …
What Time Decays
I wrote this only three months ago, and I’ve already forgotten what inspired it. It was probably a combination of things. Deep cynicism about COVID-19, maybe. Or advertisements—I’ve been getting a bunch of ads for subscription services to Monthly Boxes …
A Ten-Year-Old’s Worst Nightmare
Continuing on the trend of housecleaning, I have unearthed my very first chapbook of poetry. “But Lisa,” you may say! “You’ve never published a chapbook!” BUT HAVEN’T I. Back in fourth grade* I was assigned the task of creating a book …
Dear Martha
I’ve been deep-cleaning my apartment over the last month or so. I am not a tidy person (why clean when there are fun things to do), but the mess had gotten even to me. Anyway, that just makes it a …