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My First Ordination

From the November 2013 Print Edition

My first date with the sweet, wild woman who eventually married me was as follows: We drove two hundred miles from Boston, at speeds exceeding the speed limit, because as usual we started late, and also because someone forgot her dress, which entailed retrieving it again at shocking rates of speed, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Wood Duck

From the October 2013 Print Edition

One time I was driving very slowly with my oldest living brother Through an arboretum he loves, where there are ponds and foxes And owls and kingfishers, and all sorts of other holy amazements, And I asked him what was up with his wicked cancers, how much Pain was he in and what were his chances . . . . Continue Reading »

Confirmation Day

From the June/July 2013 Print Edition

The day I was granted the Sacrament of Confirmation and was admitted with full rights and privileges to the Church Eternal got off to a slow start, because the bishop was late. There had been a rain delay at the Mets game, but His Excellency couldn’t just leave the stadium, because the Mets were . . . . Continue Reading »

The Flimflam Theater

From the Aug/Sept 2012 Print Edition

When I was a boy I had a friend named Dennis McCann Who was totally and utterly and maniacally in love with Surfing. He talked about nothing else and he said he did Nothing else on the weekends and he had ten surfboards Of various sizes in his garage, most of them scuffed and Worn and sandy and all . . . . Continue Reading »

The Cross

From the February 2012 Print Edition

Probably an olive or acacia, as far as scholars can determine. Of course there are scholars who have poked into the matter. The Roman Empire sensibly used the most accessible wood. Me personally I would bet on the acacia which grows bigger And broader and quicker than olive. You wonder if someone . . . . Continue Reading »