Photo by Kosti Ruohomaa in his and Lew Dietz’s 1977 essay-photo collection Night Train at Wiscasset Station.

I was recently reminded of Richard Wilbur’s poem “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World,” which reminds me of this photograph — which reminds me of Wilbur’s poem.

At some point I’d love to say more about what is surely one of the best books about Maine there is.


For over a week, whenever I open Richard Wilbur I have been unable or unwilling to turn the page past his poem “The Event.” This is a pleasant and frequent dilemma. 🙂

Delighted with myself and with the birds,
I set them down and give them leave to be.
It is by words and the defeat of words,
Down sudden vistas of the vain attempt,
That for a flying moment one may see
By what cross-purposes the world is dreamt.


Kay Ryan:


We Could All Use More Sabbath Fundamentalism:

The key is to lean into Heschel’s “realm of endless peace.” Shabbat is a taste of a world that could be, a 25-hour glimpse into a healthier, less stressful and more even-keeled existence.… It allows you to let go, to lose sight of the give-and-take of Sunday through Friday, and just breathe, and accept, and enjoy. By mandating a pause, Shabbat enables us to see once again the beauty of creation, to return to the simplicity which God gave us, stripped of human elaboration.

I love that phrase, stripped of human elaboration.


Define laziness impatience haste:


Damn good Bull Moose haul! • Especially when you consider the content that I (frankly, only sort of) know is in here, $50 is a liberal-arts-and-humanities steal.


A father and his grandson


Jonah Goldberg:

When it comes to national politics… it’s all a moveable feast where crap sandwiches are the main dish. No amount of garnish or fancy preparation will change the nature of the meal.  And we should have a little grace for those who employ different strategies for how to power through the banquet. 


And now to the bookshelf for one of the best parts.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
My mother told me
To pick the very best one
And that one is…

Currently Reading: Bird By Bird: Some Instructions On Writing And Life by Anne Lamott 📚


Finished reading: Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination by Conrad L. Kanagy 📚

Not quite what I expected. I really enjoyed listening to the author talk about his book and about his admiration for Walter Brueggemann. And the book is peppered with good insights, both from Brueggemann and from Kanagy. But I don’t think it lived up to the genre of “theological biography.” Brueggemann’s fascinating family history in the Prussian Union and the German Pietist tradition, and especially his lifelong regard for his father’s ever-struggling but ever-genuine life as a pastor — these are mentioned repetitively throughout the book but I thought given little depth or storyline, and no real (narrative or theological) progression to follow. Neither is much insight given into Brueggemann’s actual theological writings.

Still, Kanagy presents a short, affectionate look at a prolific theologian who has shown great courage amid “ambivalence and ambiguity” — even, if not especially, amid his own. As Kanagy puts it, through his life Brueggemann has shown

the courage to tell the empire to be merciful, to show the empire its injustice, to remind the empire of its short-lived power, and to remind the empire that in front of it, [visible through the “prophetic imagination,"] lies an alternative reality that doesn’t have the empire’s name on it.

If you like, here’s a short clip where you can hear that straight from the horse’s mouth.