John Erickson Contemplating His Own Death

It’s going to happen. I hope that I’ll be prepared for that… I have some satisfaction in thinking that I did what I could to dignify the memory of my parents, the people in my community and my church. I didn’t shame my wife. And I brought some laughter and smiles to children and families. […]

Patrick Kavanaugh – Provincialism vs. Parochialism

Parochialism and provincialism are [direct] opposites. The provincial has no mind of his own; he does not trust what his eyes see until he has heard what the metropolis – towards which his eyes are turned – has to say on any subject. This runs through all activities.  The parochial mentality on the other hand […]

Provincialism in James Wood

Speaking of Fluellen in Shakespeare’s Henry V “…There is something piquant about a man who is at once an omnivorous roamer of the world’s knowledge and literatures, and at the same time a little Welsh provincial. His monologue on how Monmouth resembles the classical city of Macedon is both funny and moving. I tell you, […]

Poetry Reading at Aunt Eek’s

If There is a Reason for a Novelist

If there is a reason for the existence for the novelist on earth it is this: to show the element which holds out against God in the highest and noblest characters–the innermost evils and dissimulations; and also to light up the secret source of sanctity in creatures who seem to us to have failed. “God […]

Newsletter, A Year In

A little over a year ago, I began a newsletter called “In Solitude, For Company” after a line in W.H. Auden’s poem “Horae Canonicae.” I promised that it would include: A lo-fi layout Something I’ve written (usually published by someone else first) Pencil sketches A review of a local artist or author A bi-weekly schedule […]

New Essay about Larry McMurtry

Front Porch Republic published an essay of mine (Larry McMurtry and Wendell Berry at the Dairy Queen) remembering Larry McMurtry and his influence on our local imagination. Below is the opening of the essay; if it intrigues you, then go ahead and click the link above. Amarillo, TX. On a pre-Covid Saturday afternoon in Amarillo, I […]

Picturebook Horses

And between the shelves, framed pictures covered up the walls. The old colonel’s love of livestock showed in most of them. Here was a painting of a Thoroughbred stallion, unlike any real horse that ever lived. Yonder was a glorified version of a Durham bull pawing sand, his huge head lowered in lusty challenge. Elmer […]

Inaugural Poems

Naming Dogs

Here’s a history of my family’s dogs. A collie named Lassie. My entire memory of her is that she lived long enough to become arthritic and was in a lot of pain. She laid in the shade of our house in a spearmint bed. When she died, my older sister cried. I didn’t see this […]