The Way Home
Dee Dee Risher offers a poem in honor of former Witness editor Jeanie Wylie-Kellerman.  [posted 1/13/06]

Transfiguration
August 6th marks the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and Christians will also observe the Feast of the Transfiguration. "There was no warning/ No way to know/ That all the moments of time would simply come to an end," writes poet Doug Soderstrom.  [posted 7/18/05]

An Independence Day Prayer
"Move us this day, good Lord/ To yearn for real independence/ Open our eyes to our self-imposed shackles." Poet Kerry Walters offers a meditation for people of peace to consider as the U.S. approaches its annual national holiday.  [posted 6/28/05]

Wild Ponies Paired
"Even equine love seeks the canter of freedom's joy/ In the paradox of instinctual commitment." A chance springtime encounter between horses and humans in Carolina's Outer Banks is the subject of a poem by William Fraker.  [posted 6/10/05]

Sculpting Peace
The invasion of Iraq two years ago caused anguish around the globe, and people reacted in various ways. MaryBeth Weiss responded with art and creative writing, and a poem she wrote at the time still embodies her conflicting emotions.  [posted 5/5/05]

shore
Do wandering spirits ever seek a place to call home? In a reflection on John 21, poet Rima Vesely-Flad moves through such a transition, from "that was the time in which i/ hungered, when every movement in/ my life was an act of leaving," to finding something to believe in.  [posted 4/18/05]

Before Daybreak Easter Morning
"This tomb was not empty and death stank downwind/ The female Leviathan with graceful gliding lines on her belly/ Attracted awe and pity: blubbernecker curiosity." A slice of life from alongside the seashore is tranformed into an Easter vision by poet Bill Fraker.  [posted 4/12/05]

Blood
With the start of Easter season, the theme of Christ's blood is a forceful one in the church's liturgy. Poet Doug Soderstrom is moved to consider this theme within the context of blood that is spilt in war, a relevant topic for our time.  [posted 4/4/05]

God Who Made the Fruit of the Vine
The taste and feel of life is a gift of God, and now on Maundy Thursday to God, who without incarnation would have missed the joys of dark eyes, the turned ankle, and good wine. The need for radical transformation begins with the simple meal, writes Mark Harris.  [posted 3/24/05]

The Light of the World
Christians are easily drawn into the mystery and power of the Christmas story, muses Christine Rodgers, but many want no part of Good Friday. In a poem, she reflects about the results of saying "Yes" to the pain of the cross.  [posted 3/24/05]

Gethsemane
"You did not have to die/ a violent death for me. . ." writes poet Andrea Ayvazian, in powerful Holy Week verse.  [posted 3/23/05]

The Marketplace
"The marketplace is always there/ attaching your soul to money." Turkish poet Üzeyir Lokman Çayci offers a meditation on wealth, suggesting that no matter how much money one makes, we may never go home.  [posted 3/17/05]

Anger
"I made peace with anger long ago/ But/ It changed who I became." As the pain and sorrow of Holy Week approach, poet Gloria Hoglund offers a reflection on a hostile theme.  [posted 3/16/05]

Saturday Near Erie
"Turn the lake on and off, hot and cold. . ." writes Jan Snow, reflecting on our profligate use of water. In a poem, she calls us to stay awake, and to cultivate gratitude for our great wealth of natural resources.  [posted 3/4/05]

Theology
"Why he has been allowed to 'run rampant upon the earth' / Did he forget/ Or is it that he did not want to know/ That everyone is a Prodigal Son. . ." At the start of Lent, a poem by Doug Soderstrom brings us back to the Genesis story and the question of human life itself.  [posted 2/8/05]