Synchronicity: The Bigger Picture
I wonder if there is some hidden use for the political mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. What can we learn from these times of breakdown and break-up that leave us bereft and frightened, not quite knowing where to turn? When I was growing up Jewish in a household of...
What Is a Weed?
The word “weed” generally refers to a plant not valued for use or beauty, that grows wild and rank, and hinders the growth of superior vegetation. One dictionary defines weed like this: Unprofitable, troublesome, or noxious growth, a plant considered to be a nuisance....
To Donald’s Mother
Why, I wonder, do I feel so close to you, even though we’ve never met? Perhaps it is that I was born in1937, close to when and where you gave birth to Donald. I even grew up in Queens, near Jamaica where you lived, and my brother went to Kew Forest High with your...
Johnny the Pig
I live in the tiny Vermont village of Putney, on a narrow dead-end lane bordered by deep woods on one side, and Main Street with the village grocery, Library and even a world-famous Music center, on the other side. I share an old Priory close to the dead-end with six...
Each Day
Each day, as I move closer to 90 and further from 80, I wonder what I am still supposed to be doing here. Who, and what, still needs me? What unique gifts have I still to offer? What adventures are still mine to experience? The answer is, I don’t really know. I...
A History of Death
A few days before he died, my friend Jackson related this dream to me: “I’m swimming, but not in water—like in clouds. Narrow clouds, close together like a tunnel, so I've got to swim with my arms tight against me, and my butt sticking up in the air.” He shot me a wry...
Scared to Death
N.B., I wrote this while still living on the West Coast, on Wild and Radish Farm, before I moved to Vermont. Last night I awoke from a nightmare in which I was nowhere and knew nobody…there was a sad and frightened man I brought to the ocean; a moaning girl in a...
Guardian Angels
Last night, the night after the lunar eclipse, I had a dream of being in a crowd of people somewhere and being approached by a dark-haired woman in a white blouse. I did not know her, but she put her arm around me as if she knew me well, and I felt safe with her by my...
THIS AMERICAN LIFE
for Rudolf Wagner, in memoriam There is a YouTube now making its way around the Internet of a blindfolded young Muslim fellow on a streetcorner in New York with a sign that says, “I am Muslim. If you trust me, please give me a hug.” He cannot see those who pass him...
On Listening
I’ve spent the last few days on silent retreat in the country with my eyes closed, mostly listening. There are very few human sounds out here except for the occasional car arriving, so nature’s ‘biophony’ is clear to be heard, especially at dawn and dusk when the...
