part two of a blog series on trauma, relational compassion, and my new book Parrot Flower. To go in the dark with a light is to know light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. To Know the Dark, Wendell Berry In Parrot Flower, darkness is evident. There is fear and depression, egoism and defeat, addiction and neglect that manifest in the lives of two people throttled by memorie

part one of a blog series on trauma, relational compassion, and my new book Parrot Flower. Love is the one thing the heart craves. Mary Oliver I have a tattoo on my back: Hebrew lettering quoting the first half of Song of Songs 4:7. Not the Toni Morrison book. The poem. In fact, one of the most well-known love poems in world history—from which Morrison drew the title for her book—and it’s in the canonized Biblical text. Not that this matters much to me. What matters to me is

Sara Paye, a student in the MFA program at Sierra Nevada University, has so graciously read and reviewed my new book "still life." Click the photo below to read her review. Thank you Sara!