Moon and Water by Mary Oliver I wake and spend the last hours of darkness with no one but the moon She listens to my complaints like the good companion she is and comforts me surely with her light. But she, like everyone, has her own life. So finally I understand that she has turned [...]

Every day, priests minutely examine the Dharma And endlessly change complicated sutras. Before doing that, though, they should learn How to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon – Ikkyu

Dennis Brutus, who was jailed in the 1960s with Nelson Mandela, instrumental in South Africa’s suspension from the Olympics, and called Africa’s most important poet, died yesterday at the age of 85.  He was a Professor of Poetry and Black Studies at Pitt and Northwestern for some years, before returning to South Africa after Apartheid [...]

Dr. Carolyn Porco, chief image scientist for the Cassini mission at Saturn, twittered this striking image a few weeks back, and I had to share it.  The giant ringed world, slumbering in the darkness a billion miles away, has been hosting our tiny emissary for over five years.  Buzzing around Saturn like a gnat around [...]

I keep learning interesting literary tidbits from Garrison Keillor’s daily radio bit, The Writer’s Almanac.  Today’s story was particularly interesting. It’s the birthday of Asa Earl Carter, who wrote under the pseudonym Forrest Carter, (books by this author) born in Anniston, Alabama (1925). The Education of Little Tree was published in 1976, a memoir by [...]

From today’s Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor… It’s the birthday of the poet Ted Hughes, (books by this author) born in the town of Mytholmroyd, England (1930). He grew up in the countryside, surrounded by moors. He joined the air force and was assigned duty as a wireless mechanic in an isolated spot in rural [...]

This is for a friend whom I encourage to always find themselves in the amazing things around us. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside [...]

This blue belongs to no one. by Jean-Michel Maulpoix It is neither the property of man nor the kingdom of the gods.   It circulates and expands, spreading far and wide the mobile matter of its own dream. The polished and unfinished exchange their virtues in it.   If there is no soul or principle, at least blue exists, [...]

Update: The 365 Days of Astronomy site is back up, and the podcast is available to listen with the player below, or by going to the site itself. February is over!  The northern hemisphere will soon begin to thaw due to its changing tilt toward the sun in this part of earth’s orbit, and melting [...]

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The Night Abraham Called to the Stars by Robert Bly Do you remember the night Abraham first saw The stars? He cried to Saturn: “You are my Lord!” How happy he was! When he saw the Dawn Star, He cried, “”You are my Lord!” How destroyed he was When he watched them set. Friends, he [...]