A kindness shown

After 2 Samuel 9:1-13 

A kindness shown,

a steadfast love displayed,

to the son of his friend

slain in battle,

the grandson of the man

who tried to kill him,

a kindness shown

because it was time 

to forgive.

 

And more than kindness,

an honor, a tribute

to the friend he loved,

one soul in two bodies,

severed. Some might

have eliminated all and

any potential rivals;

instead, he showed

kindness, she showed

mercy, he showed

blessing.

 

Photograph by Masjid Pogung Dalangan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“A Message for the New Baby,” poem by Luci Shaw – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Four Advent Villanelles by Anna Friedrich – The Rabbit Room.

 

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” – Anthony Esolen at Word and Song.

 

The Empty Chair at Christmas – Daniel Darling at One Little Word.

 

“On Change of Weather,” poem by Francis Quarles – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

Poets and Poems: Ann Keniston and "Somatic"

A psychosomatic illness is one in which an individual imagines a sickness; it may be as real to the person as a real illness. A somatic illness is a real one, with real symptoms, but it, too, can be associated with a disorder, when the response to the symptoms is out of proportion to the reality. 

I’ve been fortunate with not having been directly affected by a relative or friend having been affected by either a psychosomatic or somatic disorder. But I’ve heard of or known people who have. And it’s all too true that just because “it’s only an illness in the mind” doesn’t mean it can be ignored or discounted; the impact on the individual and those around him or her can be devastating. 

 

In her new collection, Somatic: Poems, Ann Keniston explores these illnesses. And she does so from what seems clear as first-hand experience with a close family member. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Thursday Readings

 

“To a Wreath of Snow,” poem by Emily Bronte – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Poet Laura: Pelican Brief, Pod, Pouch, Scoop, or Squadron – Donna Hilbert at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

A Ghibli Advent: Peace – Megan Willome.

 

“The Owl,” poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

"A Month in Siena" by Hisham Matar

Hisham Matar won the Pulitzer Prize for biography for The Return, the story of his search for his father, who’d been kidnapped and presumably killed by the Libyan government. His first novel, In the Country of Men, won several recognitions and awards. Virtually every book he writes wins awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel, My Friends, in 2025. 

There’s one exception, and it’s a gem of a story. 

In 2014 or 2015, Matar traveled to Siena, Italy, as something of a retreat or rest. He was still recovering from the intensity of writing The Return, not to mention the number of widespread accolades it received. Siena was meant to be a respite, and it was. He describes that respite in A Month in Siena, a non-fiction work about his own life, the churches in the town, and the artwork contained in those churches and the local museum. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Some Wednesday Readings

 

The Rise of AI Book Slop – Tim Challies.

 

The shame of Britain – Sebastian Milbank at The Critic Magazine.

 

Three Speeches That Savid the Union: Clay, Calhoun and Webster and the Crisis of 1850 by Peter Charles Hoffer – book review by Codie Eash at Emerging Civil War.

The Poetry of Luci Shaw

Poet Luci Shaw died last week, age 96. She would have turned 97 on Dec. 29. The news prompted an outpouring of memories, comments, shared experiences, and posts about how important she’d been in the lives of so many poets and writers. 

I never met Luci, and yet it seems like she was an old friend. I never thought of her as a mentor, and yet she influenced my own writing. 

 

I knew Luci Shaw by reading her poetry. And I read her poetry because I visited a place that knew her and that she knew.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

“You cannot extinguish,” poem by Emily Dickinson – Padraig O Tuama at Poetry Unbound.

 

When the Wind Flows – poem by David Whyte.

 

“A Hymn of Heavenly Love” by Edmund Spencer – Malcolm Guite.

 

“Barnfloor and Winepress,” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

“Poem to Fit a Matchbox” by Luci Shaw – Every Day Poems.

The Christmas Nobody Wanted

The Christmas issue of Cultivating Oaks Press is now online, and I have a short story, “The Christmas Nobody Wanted.” It includes essays, reflections, and even a recipe by Andrew Roycroft, Amelia Friedline, Annie Nardone, Junius Johnson, Matthew Clark, Adam Nettesheim, Marbieth Barber, Hillevi Anne Peterson, and several others.  

The theme of the issue is “Making Room to Receive,” and you can access all the posts here. 

 

Photograph by Jessica Fadel via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Avi Lanir: A Short Life Story” by Yael Yannay

Born in 1940 in what was then the British Mandate and what would become the state of Israel, Avi Lanir enjoyed only a short life. He died in 1973, tortured to death by the Syrians after he was captured during the Yom Kippur War. (“The Geneva Convention is for Europe, not here”). And yet he’s remembered as one of Israel’s most famous fighter pilots.

 

Author Yal Yannay had published a full biography of the man. But Avi Lanir – A Short Life Story: The Courage and Capture of an Israeli Fighter Pilot is not only a biography; it is also a history of Israel through 1973. And that’s because Lanir lived that history from his birth in 19340 to his death in 1973. Yannay also writes the story in the present tense, which places the reader right there in the midst of the narrative. 

She weaves a complex story. You move through the 1940s, when Lanir had family members and relatives involved in both fighting for the British and working in groups like the Irgun against the British. As a teen, Lanir’s father is given a diplomatic post in the United States, and his son’s experience was very different from peers in Israel. (When the family returned to Israel, Avi was the only one of his friends who had a driver’s license, for example.) 

 

Avi Lanir

Avi joined the military and specifically the Israeli air force. He not only loved his job; he was outstanding at it. He gradually became a squadron leader. He fought through the Six Day War in 1967, the three-year War of Attrition that followed, and then the Yom Kippur War in 1973. What becomes clear as you read is that Israel is never really not at war. Not during the lifetime of Avi Lanir, and not now.

 

Yannay, an author, writer, editor, and lexicographer, has done extensive research on Avi’s life. That includes ancestors, in-depth descriptions of military procedures and operations, and interviews with family members, including his widow, son, and daughter. What emerges is a complex man with both nerve and courage. 

 

After his capture, some were concerned that the Syrians would realize just how much the pilot knew; it could have materially harmed Israel’s military defense. But those who knew him weren’t worried; they knew that Avi was one man who wouldn’t break. And they were right, no matter what torture methods were employed. The state of his body when it was returned showed just how horrific the torture was.

 

Avi Lanir – A Short Life Story is a remarkable account of a courageous man, and a story of how a country can always be at war.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The Exhibition of Industrial Power and London Archaeology – A London Inheritance. 

“The Good Riddle,” poem by G.K. Chesterton – Malcolm Guite. 

You have spoken

After 2 Samuel 7:18-29 

You have spoken, and

it will be as you say,

as it has been before

time. You spoke life

into creation; you

anointed me before

time was born. There

is none like you, no

god like you. You

promise to me,

a mere man, a house

that will live forever.

I bow to your grace,

to your provision,

to your protection,

to your love,

to your love for me.

 

Photograph by Mila Young via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Two Wedding Aisles to Walk Down – Stephen McAlpine.

 

“To Heaven,” poem by Ben Jonson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

On the Lord’s Nativity – Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.