Love or justice?

After 2 Samuel 18 

Is the focus to be

love, or is the focus

to be justice? Is

this life about grace,

or is this life about

righteousness? It

seems a cop-out

to say, well, both 

matter. They do,

but we want one or 

the other to rule.

Instead, we discover

a tension, a tautness,

and exhaustion to hold

both together,

at the same time,

as if they were one

entity, not two. The mind

boggles, the heart

struggles more. We do

not expect to be called

to this divine tension.

 

Photograph by Jon Tyson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly,” poem by Jupiter Hammon – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Life is a Vapour. Enjoy It – Seth Lewis.

Poet Liz Ahl Beats the Bounds

It wasn’t something I read in history class, but rather from actual “being there” experience. I first read about an ancient practice called “beating the bounds” from a blogger based in London that I follow. It’s a longstanding tradition in which people walk the boundaries of their church parish or community every seven years. The idea is to maintain boundary lines and resist encroachment.  

The practice carried over when the English colonized America. The surprise is that some states still require “beating the bounds” as a statutory requirement. It’s officially called “perambulation,” and it still exists on the law books in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It’s applied to towns, and it’s often not enforced, but it still is something of a regular practice in New Hampshire. 

 

A 2017 poetry collection by Liz Ahl is entitled Beating the Bounds. Ahl lives in New Hampshire. The wonderful title poem is about perambulation. Not only does it frame the rest of the poems to follow in the volume, it also stuck in my head as I read two other collections by Ahl, a chapbook entitled A Stanza is a Place to Stand (2023) and A Case for Solace (2022). “You must walk the path you think you know again, / to see how, again, you don’t fully know it,” she writes.

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

Some Thursday Readings

 

“The Fish,” poem by Marianne Moore – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Poems from the Coffee Shop: Pine Needle Tea – L.L. Barkat at Every Day Poems.

 

An installation – poem by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

“The Cupbearer or the Baker?” and “Decisions” – poems by Paul Millan at Society of Classical Poets.

Some Reviews of "Brookhaven"

Reviewers have had kind things to say about my novel Brookhaven. Here are a few of them. 

Outstanding novel about the Civil War

 

“Though this is a novel, the author has included a lot of historical information about the Civil War times that amplifies the horror and destruction of this brutal war and its aftermath. The reader will find inspiration in the determination of the main characters. The book offers something for almost every reader-- historical insights, a bit of romance, family dynamics but, most of all, the book highlights the indomitable human spirit to survive the tragedy and almost unimaginable hardship brought on by the Civil War.”

 

Beautifully written. Impossible to put down.

 

“This wonder of a Civil War novel captivated me from the first page. Set ostensibly in 1915 when the only female reporter for the NEW YORK WORLD is sent south to learn details about a mysterious Confederate spy, author Glynn Young spins a family saga that details the heartache and loss not only of the war specifically but the broken relationships and twisted lives that came out of those devastating years.

“What begins as a mystery to solve quickly evolves into an elderly man’s own story of the nation’s worst war. Set primarily in the town of Brookhaven, Mississippi, and the homes of a family still caught in the grasp of the war's aftermath, the story moves back and forth between 1915 and the 1860s, taking readers on a personal tour of troop movement in the eastern border states, battles of Gettysburg and Wilderness, General Lee’s surrender, and ultimately, a very satisfying finale.

“As I read, the book and its characters felt very real. Not my ancestors, certainly, but people I learned to cheer for and care about as the ways of war and the world had their effect. That turned out to be not too surprising, as the author wrote an end-of-the-book note that BROOKHAVEN was inspired by tales he heard from his own family as he was growing up.

Finally, marvel of marvels for people like me who always “want to know more” after I’ve finished a historical novel, author Young provides readers with a comprehensive bibliography at the end of the book that ranges from general Civil War books, to books about the war in Mississippi, to letters and memoirs that offer personal insights into those years.”

 

Beautifully told, fascinating in historical detail

 

Glynn Young has crafted a beautiful, engrossing story that shines with historical details. I've always loved historical fiction and Brookhaven does not disappoint. The many twists and turns in the story made this one a page-turner for me. The author's note at the end of the book relates how the book was inspired by an old family story, which I found to be so interesting. I could tell by the way the author handled the characters with such integrity that this story holds a special place in his heart. This book kept me company over the holidays and through a winter snowstorm. It was a very good companion.

Poets and Poems: Sarah Carey and "Bloodstream"

I’d read, a long time ago, that certain things become more important as you age. These included art, as in visiting museums, and family heritage, as in genealogy. I must have read it and dismissed it, so I can’t cite the source, but I later discovered it to be true.

 

An older cousin researching the family had led her to the old family Bible in my possession. The call became an extended conversation about old family stories, including one about the great-grandmother who allegedly killed a man and got away with it, and the great-grandfather who had reportedly walk home from Virginia at the end of the Civil War (I wrote a novel about that story). 

Poet Sarah Carey has taken a related but different approach. She’s written an arresting poetry collection, entitled Bloodstream, about family, heritage, and stories about odd relatives (if you’re from the South, as Carey and I both are, every family has odd relatives. In fact, in the South, odd and relatives may be redundant. She even writes about family pets. 

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

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Novel idea – poem by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Elvis Costello Brought Poetry to Life – Peter Richmond at The Free Press.

 

“I Am a Little World Made Cunningly,” poem by John Donne – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Tether – poem by Alison Luterman at Every Day Poems. 

Shirt Poems – Luci Shaw at Rabbit Room Poetry.

Some Monday Readings

The Pretti Case Exposes a Dangerous Lie – Walter Hudson.

 

From Yellow Pads to Bestseller: John Grisham and the Publication of The Firm – Jason Clark at This Is the Day.

 

Computers Can’t Surprise – Richard Beard at Aeon Magazine.

 

The World of Charles Dickens – A.C.S. Bird at Story Warren on two children’s books.

 

10 Unforgettable Superbowl Commercials – Zach Schonfeld at History. 

Brexit: Britain’s Forever War – Helen Thompson at History Today. 

A father's grief

After 2 Samuel 18 

Even after his kingdom

is almost lost, his family

torn apart, his country

sundered in two, his

throne threatened, 

the man grieves 

the loss of the one

who set near-destruction

into motion, the son,

the favored son,

the golden child loved

and followed and

praised by so many,

he grieves what might

have been, he grieves

the tearing of,

the cost to

his own soul.

 

Photograph by Noor Hossain via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Sunday, Feb. 1

 

When Peter Walked the Stormy Sea – poem by Esther Roth.

 

5 Reasons You Need Sabbath Rest – Megan Hill at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Beauty Will Win – Trevin Wax at Story Warren.

 

I Stepped Outside – Melissa Edgington at You Mom Has a Blog.

 

“Day by Day,” song by Stephan Schwartz from Godspell – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Saturday Good Reads – Jan. 31, 2026

I get amused when I see stories about how entitled Baby Boomers are, or how we supposedly lived the life of Riley back in the 1950s. While there are obvious differences to today – families were far more likely to be intact with both parents living together – it wasn’t all like the television shows Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver. John Cochrane at The Coolidge Review explains that the 1950s weren’t such a golden age as many believe today believe. 

I’ve known of at least four pastors who read fiction, only because they sent me notes about my own novels. It’s not something we expect, figuring they’re always reading the latest books on theology, church issues, and pastoral counseling. T.N. Suffield has some reasons why it is a good idea for pastors to read fiction.

 

It’s not a story that the mainstream media will cover, but there’s been a spate of articles about nurses posting on social media about ways to harm ICE agents or Trump supporters in general, including one nurse who posted a really vicious attack on the White House press secretary. That nurse was fired and de-licensed for what she said, so at least sanity prevailed. If you want to read these stories, you can google them; I have no interest in providing links other than to note that mental illness seems to have seriously infiltrated the medical community. 

 

More Good Reads

 

America 250

 

Putting the American Revolution in Context by Transcription – Carolyn Osborn at Library of Congress.

 

Ulysses S. Grant, from Semicentennial to Semiquincentennial – ben Kemp at Emerging Civil War.

 

Advertising a Revolution: An Original Invoice to “The Town of Boston to Green and Russell” – George Bresnick at Journal of the American Revolution.

 

The Founding of Jamestown (1607) – Britain’s First Permanent American Foothold – Jonathan Thomas at Anglotopia.

 

Faith

 

Elites and the Evangelical Class War – John Ehrett at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Minneapolis, ICE, and the Christian Response – Kevin Briggins at Informed Takes (Hat Tip: Mike Duran). 

 

The Generational Narcissism of Always Thinking We Face the Biggest Crisis Ever – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

 

News Media

 

One Must Have a Heart of Stone – John Hinderaker at Powerline.

 

Why Nobody Is Convinced by Footage – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.

 

Writing and Literature

 

The Summons Our Blood Knows – Mark Botts at Front Porch Republic.

 

The Leaf Collector (a very short story) – Seth Lewis.

 

Grateful for the War – Yours Truly at Cultivating Oaks Press.

 

Nick Carraway & Charles Ryder: Observers of Delusion & Decadence – Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Why “Plot” Isn’t a Four-Letter Word – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.

 

Poetry

 

“The Boston Evening Transcript,” poem by T.S. Eliot – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Twigs – Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Open – David Whyte.

 

Tolkien’s Beowulf : A Man of the Twilight – Bradley Birzer.

 

British Stuff

 

Lost Portrait of Robert Burns by Scotland’s Greatest Painter Found After 220 Years – Jonathan Thomas at Anglotopia. 

 

The Skater’s Waltz – Emile Waldteufel

 Painting: A Girl Reading, oil on canvas by Alfred Stevens (1823-1906).