Essays

MY FAVORITE ESSAYS (Selected from previous posts):

A Poetic Sense of Life

An Ordinary Life

Hope in the Midst of Tragedy

Western Zen

Trust Yourself: A Message from My Father

A Local Hero

About My Father’s Business

Here's to a Legend

Form and Substance: How a Sonnet Saved My Life

How Bubba Got His Accent Back

Our Town: A Mother's Day Memory

Southern Nights and Stereotypes

Open Wounds and Soul Distress

Don’t Take My Word for It

The Distraught Man

The Problem with Being Male

Experiences of Mystery and Wonder (this link gives access to the series of essays)

Living in a New Light

Living with Virtue: A Tribute to Mr. Higgins

Remembering Those Who Have Gone Before Us (Part 2)

Cattle Call: A Tribute to Cowboys, Poets, and Other Wanderers

Tales of Isaac, Part I (The Altar)

Tales of Isaac, Part II (The Blessing)

On the Waging of War

The Play Is the Thing

Writing in the Margins

Dreaming at Midlife 

Brave New World...at Breakfast

When Your Gods Are Taken Away

The One Being: Our Part in the Whole

A Boy and His Dog

On Poetry, Prayer and Gratitude

Where Love and Reason Dwell

Genie, Jesus; Bottle, Book

Finding Christmas

William Shakespeare, the Bard for All Time

On Transcendence (and Being Discrete)

Image and Likeness (Why the "New Atheists" Are Late to the Party and Limited in their Outlook)

How Pete Seeger Taught Me about Forgiveness

Pot Luck Sunday at the Weaker Brethren Community Church

For All the Saints: Remembering Andrew Greeley and Will Campbell

My Season with Dante

Letting Go