honest as an egg, sturdy as steel, compassed to Polaris, true as the healing ring slipped on the hand of the son with nothing to bring— whatever is good as a grapevine, special as saved seed, sacred as God’s own name: he who is with you, is coming, is gentle (not tame), holy as a homecoming— whatever is clear-eyed, right-sized, the fair mind, judicious line, weighty and willing to wait, word-wise and wondrous as the wing— think on these things. Whatever is clean as a poli

by Lanier Ivester Is this a fast, to keep The larder lean? And clean From fat of veals and sheep? Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still To fill The platter high with fish? Is it to fast an hour, Or ragg’d to go, Or show A downcast look and sour? No; ‘tis a fast to dole Thy sheaf of wheat, And meat, Unto the hungry soul. It is to fast from strife, From old debate And hate; To circumcise thy life. To show a heart grief-rent; To starve thy sin, Not bin; And that’s to k

Introduction “It is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is common in all writing and among the best of writers.” – E. B. White “You don’t care about those first three pages; those you will throw out, those you needed to write to get to that fourth page, to get to that one long paragraph that was what you had in mind when you started, only you didn’t know that, couldn’t know that, until you got to it.” ― Anne Lamott I wrot