The 60-Second Sabbath

loneliness

  • Advent 5

    A winter blizzard separates us–you are two miles away,but may as well be in Sitka. My normal snowstorm excitementdrifts over with loneliness. I think I'm craving you,but what I may be cravingis a tranquil, storm-embraced me. Text and image ©… Continue reading

  • Butterflies, Inc.

    Somewhere west of the last town,just this side of sundown,the road straightensinto the dusty emptiness of forever. I pull over to peein the buckling parking lotof an abandoned warehousewhose faded sign reads"Butterflies, Inc." I try to grasp what this means:a… Continue reading

  • Isolation

    The isolation we thinksaves us from hellis, in fact,creating it.  Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.    Continue reading

  • Take a Break

    "Take a break," I suggest to God,who looks as ragged as a bitchgiving birth to her 12th litter of pups. "Have you seen my inbox?" God asks."Never been so full:demands, rants, requests for healing,so much anguish,so many crushed hearts–it's overwhelming!Where… Continue reading

  • Whose Heart

    Whose heart is thisbattered, shattered,scattered in pieces on my bedroom floor? Ah, it's mine. Unspoken, broken,I block the entrance,shoulder the bureau to barricade the door;I quote the raven: "Nevermore!" Text, image and audio © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights… Continue reading

  • The Widow

    And now she is a widow walking into the dim parlor,pausing between their worn chairs,watching rain run down the window,listening to the unfamiliar silence,picking up the book she'd been reading,touching the top of the bookmark,sliding open the pages,finding the paragraph… Continue reading

  • Dawn’s First Fingers

    Dawn's first fingersreach around our neighbor's houseand stroke the graying slatsof our tool shed. A small gray catpussyfoots her wayup the naked, broken trellisto the cracked, tacked, faded gray shingles of the roof.She faces the sun,raises one paw,licks it twice,settles… Continue reading

  • My Face

    My face,empty at the table like a white china plate,waits for supper.From the kitchen,silence. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading

  • Job-Loss, Death, Etc.

    From time to timethe vehicle of your life–the one you're driving even as you read this–disappears from the busy streets you navigate dailyand reappears on some empty, unknown, rural road. What landscape is this?Signs point to places you do not… Continue reading