PAM REHM ~

 

Confirmation

Wild birds form
distances
for a restless eye

They retain
then edify
the soul's longings

I have lived as of late
unpracticed

My faith essentially
eroded

I am possessed now
with duration

As there is no measurement
to the turning
of a leaf into soil

Being also descends
with a slowness

Innocently enough
to witness

This river
awakened by the morning sun

A vale of close light
A light incarnate

Spiritual Life

I was not sure how
my children would dream

They saw further
than sheltering

They heard clearer
than my prayer

I could not feel my rescue
Intently enough

They held me tighter
than my grip

They led me across
my indigence

and were my abundance
when I got there

Sprung up like
wild herbs

I had always hoped
To find

______________
Pam Rehm

Inner Verses

Wave Books, 2024

GERALD HAUSMAN, HAIL CHANTER ~

 

Author of Evil Chasing Way, Hand Trembler and Sungazer

Hail Chanter, Book Four, in the Star Song series, features one man winding and wending his way through Southwestern real-time and dream-time. This novel serves as the final healing rapture of the previous three books: Evil Chasing Way, Hand Trembler, and Sungazer.

In the earlier novels, the author/storyteller used the ancient art of singing to a star, hand trembling, and praying. The result, from the traditions of the Navajo Old Ways, turns a burning light into a healing one. This process took place on an operating table and in a radiation chamber. Hausman states:

“I followed the sacred speech that a star makes. It lived within me and healed both the inside and outside of me.”

The emergence ceremony in Hail Chanter intertwines a mixture of ancient religion with modern medicine. The novel portrays Winter Thunder blowing apart a human form, making it all come together. The healer said:

“It all comes together like a bunch of broken parts waiting to be annealed all over again.”

This captivating story maintains Jack Andrews as the hero from the first three novels, while also exploring the character of Jay DeGroat, a Navajo friend of Gerald’s for fifty years.

“…Hausman honors Native American philosophy and spirituality even as he reveals it.” —Booklist

“Carlos Castaneda would've loved this book.” —Dr Michael Gleeson, Anthropologist

Speaking Volumes

2024

BRIDGET RILEY ~

 

R E A D   M E

     David Zwirner, 2022

MORE MOSAB ABU TOHA ~

 

Palestinian Village

On the hill in the village, you can chock

the wheels of your vegetable cart

with a stone your grandfather once used

to crush the thyme. Or smash garlic with a

stone your grandmother used as a doorstop.

You can lounge

on a wicker chair near a pomegranate tree,

where a canary never tires of singing.

You can dig a hole with your hands

and find an earthworm breathing

the freshness of soil revived by yesterday's rain.

You can make tea with sage or mint.

If a neighbor or a passerby smells it,

an invitation to join is extended.

You put more cups on your table,

you walk to the garden and pick

more fresh sage or more mint.

~

For a Moment

Her small body rides in my arms

as I run to the hospital.

There is no electricity

and the inner hallways are

a forest lined with cots.

The girl I carry

is dead.

O know that.

The pressure of the explosion

tore apart her thin veins.

I know she is dead,

but everyone who sees us

runs after us.

You are alive

for a moment,

when living people

run after you.

__________________

Mosab Abu Toha

Forest of Noise

Knopf 2024

HEED THESE WORDS ~

 

     Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

   READ

JULES FEIFFER ~

 

JULES  FEIFFER

NY 1929 ~ NY 2025

GARTH HUDSON ~

 

G A R T H   H U D S O N

Aug. 2, 1937, Windsor, Ontario ~  Jan 21, 2025, Woodstock, NY.

AUTOCRACY ~

 

R E A D   M E

    Doubleday 2024

LETTERS FROM MISSISSIPPI ~

 

R E A D   M E

       Zephyr Press