Archives : The Slow-Cooked Sentence

2020
February
16	Bus ride measured in staccato phone snap and ring glint
7	Political loner, swayed by reason not passion, deserves respect
January
31	When floor and quilt are meditation on cloth, country, clay
25	How 12 elephants and a lightbulb settled a battle over breakfast
16	Walking on this old floor is similar to a ship at sea
10	Unbeknownst to me, Iâ€™d boarded a ferry full of field trips
2019
December
31	Aiming for a personal best: Racing to fitness by 50
24	Seven edited sentences:A retrospective walk through a year’s words
17	Cataloging a life
11	When disorder knocks, let it in: Applying the second law of thermodynamics to a remodel
3	When a manual typewriter equals the speed of my thoughts
November
26	Artist Allen Crawford liberates Walt Whitman’s vigor from verse
19	Snail sentences, small and measured
12	At the heart of human survival: image and imagination
5	Fortune cookie wisdom: Distraction is the enemy of worker and her waistband
October
29	Strangely immortal language of poetry and bristlecone pine
22	From my perspective, all exhaustion and futility
15	Sunday coffee with Rashomon, Raymond Carver and the unreliable truth
8	A night of song, a theory about sacrifice by priestess of punk Patti Smith
1	A weather forecast calls for reduction of cloud, mushroom
September
24	It’s never too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize: Relying on Thoreau as I mother a young climate activist
17	Invisibility is more than a refuge in this field guide to disappearing
10	Short story writer Alice Munro’s bittersweet nod to aging
3	A sentence by Chinua Achebe celebrates my daughter’s birthday
August
27	An American Sentence for a boy who has left for school
20	Newspaper report on why slavery seeded U.S. exceptionalism
13	A small boy’s missing mother defines the Japanese concept of sad beauty in human suffering
6	Tomie dePaola’s story ideas, like sourdough, must be fed
July
30	AnaÃ¯s Nin in defense of the diary and handwritten sentence
23	Children’s author Tomie dePaola prefers fantasy over preaching about environmental virtues
16	Making raspberry jam while reading AnaÃ¯s Nin
8	Noshing on books, bites & black culture in David Barclay Moore’s “The Stars Beneath Our Feet”
2	Sleeplessness unravels story stitched into a quilt
June
25	Toward a future filled with stretch and stability
18	In early morning’s sooty light, birdsong blessed the day
11	Building homes from shared values a model of philosopher Joanna Macy’s active hope
4	A minnow of short story, with nod to Kipling and cousin
May
28	Byrd Baylor’s desert ode: A girl learns her poor family is rich in things that matter
21	Terry Tempest Williams’ meditation on women’s voices is a prayer of bird song, blank page
14	Ursula K. Le Guin on why suffering, not love, unites us
7	We might be miserable, but playwright Young Jean Lee doesn’t want us to be alone
April
30	Roller derby, deck of cards give me a novel set of writing skills
23	Sci-fi writer, space traveler, spelunker work at chaos’ edge
16	Sculptor Anne Truitt on pathways between connection and privacy
9	Continuation of conversation between self and spring
2	Like my family’s vegetables, ideas sprout, become food for thought
March
26	Philosopher-poet David Whyte seeks words’ precarious beauty
19	Morning coffee with obituaries: Discovery within a final remembrance
11	Trail of cookie crumbs connects imperfect knowledge to production of ideas
5	Zadie Smith responds to inadequacy, hot tweets, and the bartender’s question
February
26	When words are free as the air we breathe, a writer’s belly is empty
19	An obscure alphabet eases a foment of irritation, agitation
12	Weighing flour and the poetry of wordbaker Linda Pastan
5	Artist and anthropologist seek words to describe winter’s wane
January
29	In defense of marriage, motherhood for the mega-rich
22	Potholes on the road taken
15	Cell biologist connects seed husk and butterfly cocoon to deeply human feeling of love
8	19th-Century family of amateur ornithologists, self-taught artists create book of lasting import
1	Ignorant and optimistic, I venture forth
2018
December
25	Night Tree: A family’s journey into the forest creates intimate, lasting connection with nature
18	Photographer Tom Murphy’s striking images of isolation, survival of Yellowstone winter
11	A profane essay on progeny with nods to God, poet and capitalist
4	Ecotheologian Thomas Berry on the urgency of evolutionary epic
November
27	One man’s origin story
20	Pomegranate as mouthful and metaphor
12	Ursula K. Le Guin on how integrity binds past to future, and makes us whole
5	A lesson on active hope by philosopher Joanna Macy
October
26	Notes, in haiku, from a lectureby author Barbara Kingsolver
24	Percy Shelley’s unacknowledged legislator and poet Kate Lebo links prayer to protest
20	Tarnished story in a gilded age
September
26	Poem and place for hard times
July
23	Soothing lavender
12	Last night, I woke
5	Flashpoint on the Fourth
3	A meditation on morning and other beginnings
1	Rx for failing, ahem, falling
2017
December
4	How we communicated one wet, bleak afternoon
October
17	A manifesto hidden within mise-en-scÃ¨ne
September
29	I do not know where to begin
June
14	What happened at the park’s edge
6	Agnes at the edge
1	In which a homeless woman finds a name and loses everything else
May
23	â€‹Under a voyeuristic sky
15	Three on Mother’s Day
10	One hundred days later
April
24	Instructions from the harridan Brenda Hillman
18	Inequality wrapped in a tinfoil of fairness
March
23	Cure for cancer is somewhere, but not in this room
20	An exploration of the lack of manners points out my own
16	Relatives
13	A postscript to “I am not a rolling stone”
2	I am not a rolling stone
February
23	White woman at the intersection
17	What happened when nothing happened
2	Hope has two daughters, anger and courage
January
27	When sleeping women wake, mountains move
2015
October
6	Flannery O’Connor’s use of grace:A self-study of faith in writing
August
6	Learning by heart Mary Oliver
February
5	Tender and not too sweet:Barley, coffee, molasses scones
January
28	For Chez Danisse, an update
2014
December
3	Driving to Idaho
November
4	Anne Truitt on writing with loyalty about those we love
October
24	Painful, beautiful, cautionary sentences by Rebecca Solnit
16	Sisters, but not my own
6	Beautiful sentences: Roger Deakin on a pencil’s tentative nature
May
15	When is the effort the gift?
13	Six active verbs in the past tense
April
7	Interior view
4	Believing in rainbows and unicorns
March
26	A hand through rough terrain
19	Caretaking
12	Horn tooting: Kindred magazine
5	Conference gravy + giveaway
February
26	Seasoned
2013
December
17	When rejection is imminent
November
20	Mixing metaphors this morning
18	An intersection of food and fiction
12	This is scratchy and rich and singable
6	Tuesdays are good days for demolition
October
29	My weather report
24	Microreview: On the defense, James Purdy
3	Twelve things to love in autumn
September
26	Pockets for iPrecious
20	Microreview: What stills my mind, Mimi White
12	My Godot
5	Subtraction
July
17	Catch and release
June
13	Contemplations on a puppet passion
12	A limerick for a minor emergency
10	Squeezing time from my turnip days
May
27	Five things to finish this summer
23	My pen and ink
21	Currency
1	Recipe poetry: Fried Rice, Deconstructed
April
22	A week of small observations with sons: Three to remember
20	A week of small observations with sons: One woman revolution
17	A week of small observations with sons: A video recipe for soup
16	A week of small observations with sons: Not alone
15	A week of small observations with sons: Living with the wildlife
March
21	Four sisters in Fairbanks
6	Paper menagerie
February
25	A thread through the labryinth
5	In which I channel Ricki Lee Jones who isn’t dead but far enough removed from me she may as well be
1	Squandering solitude
January
29	Heaviness around the middle
11	The return road
2012
December
18	A new kind of Christmas carol
November
26	In the plate-licking aftermath
13	Flare up like a flame, make big shadows I can move in
6	Aeromancy or between the raindrops
October
31	My sweet spooks!
22	Observations
3	Q&A
1	October cleaning
September
6	Purls of poetry
3	Obnoxious loves
August
27	Food for thought
July
23	Chekhov interrupts my sleep
12	Parenthetical citation
June
19	Mileage from a Boston Cream Pie
13	Assholes All Around
7	Lamentations on June
5	Viewing the wildlife
May
31	I have found something beautiful
24	Overlooked treasures
17	Racy thoughts on rhubarb jam
11	Hindsight
3	Elbow grease
1	The letter H sponsors a second post
April
18	A story brought to you by the letter H
17	Six signs of spring (break)
10	To be known by name
3	A journey south
March
27	My Life as a Screenplay, Act Two
19	Singing pipes
15	Unlike Monday
12	On a morning deficient of light
9	Preoccupied with roads since my return
February
17	Warmer waters
14	Tending to the mending
10	Can we read at the table tonight?
8	Sugar rather than salt in my wounds
3	It’s probably raining
3	Friday’s promise
January
31	Knitting is a diary written in yarn
26	A conversation occurring minutes before guests arrive
23	My response to another’s paradise
20	Noncompliance
17	A day that was not today
11	Pretzels are poems written with flour
9	Monday’s cup
5	Continuing education
3	The forecast
2011
December
26	Behind the pageantry
23	To pull in air was like reading a novel
10	Within the cloudbank
October
25	Dynamite chili or feeding the masses
20	When life riffs from a good book
17	20 things I’m no good at
11	On my knees
3	Second sighting
September
27	Unexpected
22	Goodbye blue sky
21	SoupÃ§on or sounds of collecting
16	Another’s breath
13	Space is something we give ourselves
August
22	Time enough to learn to prune a tree
15	A sewing lesson
10	Sandscript
July
21	Pick, pack, preserve
11	More is merrier
6	Creating in the chaos
June
22	A flight of fancy
16	A milestone for 10-year-old mayflies*
9	Saying goodbye to Wednesdays
2	Nest building, species identification and other thoughts from camp
May
26	My companion
24	Vastation or how I say goodbye
23	Remembering a week, a man
13	Reality is the raw material
6	Rhubarb soda + Mary Robison
4	Celebration under a somber sky
April
27	Kenspeckle or visiting the ravine
19	While on the topic of eggs
13	Every morning there’s a cup of coffee and I wear your ring
8	While at the park
6	Landscape of an oyster liar, er, lover
1	Why I left home late Thursday night
March
29	Quaggy or life in the rain
24	Similarities between boy and bug
22	The practice of leaving
18	Malapert or navigating foreign terrain
11	Morning with a young philosopher
9	Connecting dots where there are none
4	Evanescence or shedding the weight of self-awareness
2	Bad words and a butt-load of bitchiness over bringing home the bacon
February
23	Pausing
18	I like reality that tastes like bread
16	My brain
11	Fourth-graders search for nice
9	To be sustained
4	Where there is tea
2	Sough or sounds in a foreign language
January
28	Melting manners with molten marshmallow
26	My style and my mind alike to roaming*
21	Potential
19	Unexpected
14	Lessons
12	Twenty-one answers in an afternoon
7	A resolution
5	Effulgence or writing with film
2010
December
31	A year, reviewed
29	Mud and sunshine
17	Sweet, sound advice for the season
15	Going the distance
10	Tare or in which Christmas is unwrapped
8	The pocket tree
3	Later today
3	Today
1	The morning’s song
November
19	What you do before you friend someone
17	You get what you get
12	French kissing a mermaid
10	I am 40, now
5	Cancer cracked me open and I weep
3	A conversation with a young superhero
October
27	We are stardust, we are golden or Rilke’s elegies
22	Happy man on a happy day
20	Breathless
15	Air
13	It makes the world go ’round
8	Bilocation or returning home
6	Homage to Sendak and an ushering in of the flu
1	Maunder or writing about writing
September
29	I like wind
24	Pears and chocolate
22	Three cheers for mediocre
20	Beek or what I did on a good sky day
17	Tears with my tea
15	Lacuna or wandering through negative space
July
23	A summer siesta
16	A lesson with fire or how words ignite
9	Diving into traffic
June
29	Sun-soaked strawberries in Seattle
21	Words from the road
9	My heart, plucked
May
31	Made for TV drama
24	The numbers tell the story
17	Tangled time
10	Definitions of home
3	Just living
April
26	A week in re(d)rospect
19	The gritty details
12	Making gaps, letting go
2	A big leap
March
31	Who needs a reason
29	White chocolate mint cream
26	Some egg-cellent links
24	In which the day begins like any other, with argument and laughter
22	When mistakes are intentional
19	Before the beginning, they were brothers
17	Spring feverish
15	Caught on Chat Roulette
12	Celebrating the small stuff
10	Tenebrous or the results of a pinewood derby race
8	Four reasons to call yourself a knitter
5	Linus, limits and a liberal sprinkling of Parmesan
3	Hot cocoa taste test
1	Chapter 5: Dark dreams
February
26	Quotidian or surprises in the suburbs
24	Thoughts unrelated to the sentences that birthed them
22	When life unravels with the toilet paper
19	Billet-doux
17	Priorities
15	Half-baked: Story’s similarity to the scone
12	A lovely weekend
10	In which the author ruminates about love
8	Five-minute fix
5	A road trip
3	Aubade
January
31	Hats from the heart
29	A cup, a crunch, a crumb
27	We’re programmable
25	My effort, not futile
22	Five things needed to induce sleep in a toddler
20	Ursine
18	In want of
15	Succor
13	A palette for the palate
11	Women hold up half the sky
1	Popped
2009
December
25	For you
23	Christmas, past and present
21	Cookies ’til we collapsed
18	Happiness by the spoonful
16	Mad dash for a menorah
14	A conversation between dataheads
11	In the silence
9	Someone needs to tell Muhammad
7	Gallimaufry
2	Road blocks
November
29	The end (of the beginning)
27	Returnee
25	Rituals
23	Transformation
18	Unmasked
16	Diverted
11	A bus exchange
9	Predawn
4	Failure or Alas, I cannot get published
2	Ghostly goulies
October
30	Unprepared
28	Slate’s loss, your gain
26	Autumn manifesto
23	We met in line at the fabric store
21	Petrichor
19	A morality tale
16	Melon soup
14	Breakfast
12	Girl power
12	Carom
9	How do you like your coffee?
7	What’s cookin?
5	Judgments
2	The tastes of sickness
September
30	Alliteration amorÃ©
28	A reading reduction
25	Let’s write
23	Diktat
21	Glorious, garlicky soup
18	Manneken Pis
16	An ending
14	Absolution
11	A key
9	Celerity
7	Woohoo for the workers
4	A story written with frosting
2	Farewell summer
August
31	Tyro
28	Icebox cupcakes
26	Jewels in a jar
24	Metamorphosis
21	Crepuscular
19	Tastykake
17	My safe Sam
14	Wishing on chunks of space rock
11	30 things to love + poem
10	Ephemeral
7	Insult and injury
5	Washington, D.C.
3	Sunday, defined
July
31	Ululate
30	Tomato seeds
29	Summer flesh
17	Gone swimmin’
15	Departure
13	Preparations
10	First summer soup
8	Saving the farm
6	Gambol

February

16

Bus ride measured in staccato phone snap and ring glint

7

Political loner, swayed by reason not passion, deserves respect

January

31

When floor and quilt are meditation on cloth, country, clay

25

How 12 elephants and a lightbulb settled a battle over breakfast

16

Walking on this old floor is similar to a ship at sea