The 60-Second Sabbath

Photography

  • Gifts

    I might bemoanthe babe-obscuring frenzyof the mall at Christmastime:     The perfect gift!    The ultimate gift!    The gift they really want! Gift craving,    gift hawking,gift buying,    gift wrapping,gift giving,    gift returning… I feel gift pressure;I suffer from gift… Continue reading

  • Christmas Cozy

    I told himthat each year at ChristmasI like to read Christmas stories and Christmas poems. He said,"No one does Christmas cozy like Dirk!" And I thought of the story by Dickens I'd just read,about poverty and injustice in 19th-century London.I… Continue reading

  • Haiku for the Christmas Tree

    Washed in colored lightand tears and memory, I'mundone by wonder. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Corduroy

    Was going to write something this morning,but then a cat climbs up on my lapand curls into a tight, plump, capital "C,"settling onto the brown, wide-wale corduroyof the bathrobe my mother sewed for meover thirty years ago,and then the cat… Continue reading

  • Advent Lantern

    I hold my lantern overhead,and turning, look back at the past–such darkness blocks remembrance,only pinpricks of light in a field of black. I turn to look ahead.The light of my lanterncannot penetrate the fog of future's uncertainty.I hear muffled voices;unformed… Continue reading

  • This Moment, Expanded

    Stop focusingon what's missingfrom this moment.Focus insteadon what this momentoffers:    texture    color    movement    inspiration    affection    wonder    stillness Your egowants to catalogwhat the moment lacks. Your soulwants to reveal the momentfor what it truly… Continue reading

  • This Moment

    We can critiqueeach momentfor what it lacks. Or we can embraceeach momentfor what it offers. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Heaven and Hell

    I have dug this hole,you see,to hold my fears.Once filledI shall climb in,and thus surrounded,justify my cowardice,prejudice,self-absorption,self-loathing.I have dughell. I have built this hut,you see,to hold my hopes.Once furnishedI shall cross the threshold,and thus surrounded,know my courage,compassion,wisdom,wholeness.I have builtheaven. Text… Continue reading

  • To Essence

    Say yes to the River;relax in its flow;agree to the journeywherever it goes. Let go of the tiller;let slip both the oars.Stop looking landward;break free of both shores. Calm stretches await you–and rapids and falls,and eastward the Ocean's heartbeckons and… Continue reading

  • Haiku 2

    silent, dusty roomsphotographs stand sentinelancestors whisper Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading