The West Coast

The man with the moles on his back, speckled. The man with the circular scar on his cheek, a piece was taken out, or replaced, he rang up my Mickey Mouse shaped pencil. The man we asked a question and he answered in gestures and the English people who cannot hear use, and we acted […]

Medicine

Much of life is the one hour you wait for the medicine to kick in, and this week is the hour we are waiting in America. I am waiting. I was at my monastery in Atchison, Kansas, and overheard one of the sisters say that a sniper had shot police officers. Mealtime discussions with the […]

We May Sink and Settle

Someone told me even numbers of bamboo stalks are unlucky, so I bought another pot with three stalks, bringing my total to 9. I had 3, that was good, then 6, disaster, now back to 9. “What does that have to do with?”my coworker asked. I was carrying my bamboo. “I don’t know,” I said. […]

Wind

Maybe you did not go to church because God lets crazy people shoot fifty strangers. I have not been going because God has ruined my life in other ways. I walked into a church, a church where no one knew me, so maybe I would feel different, and an usher told me not to […]