Tag: spiritual

You Can’t See It But It’s There by Laura Grace Weldon

~ ONE ART ~ 1 Comment

You Can’t See It But It’s There

I’m not talking the magnetosphere or God
or seeds waiting in the frozen soil
or medicine careening through my bloodstream.

I’m talking pottery glaze to a seven-year-old.
She’s chosen a pretty pale pink to paint a ceramic pig
with a slightly less pale pink for its nose and ears.

Her concentration is enviable as she brushes
nearly invisible glaze over the little round body
By the time I explain it will turn out pink, for real,

she’s using a hairlike brush to add tiny black eyes
and hooves. I worry. Will she be disappointed?
Has my parking meter expired? Is democracy ending?

When I pick up the kiln-fired pig its glossy perfect pink testifies
to her faith. The way people singing, marching, standing up
for their neighbors in this perilous time does mine.

*

Laura Grace Weldon lives in a township too tiny for traffic lights where she works as a book editor, leads writing workshops, serves as Braided Way editor, and chronically maxes out her library card. Laura is the author of four books and was Ohio’s 2019 Poet of the Year. Her background includes teaching nonviolence, writing poetry with nursing home residents, facilitating support groups for abuse survivors, and writing sardonic greeting cards. Laura lives on a small Ohio homestead where she and her husband host occasional art parties and house concerts. lauragraceweldon.com

ONE ART’s 2025 Best Spiritual Literature Nominations

~ ONE ART ~ 1 Comment

ONE ART’s 2025 Best Spiritual Literature Nominations

tc Wiggins – Like Lightning  

Moudi Sbeity – All Things Bloom  

James Diaz – I will not go to Darkness having known Nothing of the Light

Naila Francis – For my friend weeping at the coffee shop  

James Feichthaler – So Much Baggage  

Gary Fincke – The Far North

*

The annual Best Spiritual Literature awards are hosted by Orison Books.

“Orison Books publishes Best Spiritual Literature (formerly The Orison Anthology) every year, a collection of the best spiritual writing in all genres published in periodicals in the preceding year. […] Editors of literary periodicals (print or digital) may nominate work in a single genre or in multiple genres to be considered for inclusion in our annual anthology, Best Spiritual Literature, which will reprint the finest spiritually engaged writing from a broad and inclusive range of perspectives.”

Two Poems by Gene Twaronite

~ ONE ART ~ 2 Comments

The Burping Seal

A lone Tupperware with sky blue lid,
it lives on in my kitchen, a reminder
of all it once held—loving leftovers
of Mom’s greasy kugel or kielbasa,
mincemeat cookies, coleslaw or apple pie.

Its skin is worn soft from fifty years
of washing and handling. Back and forth
it went from her place to mine. I see
her sturdy hands placing morsels into its mouth
like a mother bird feeding its young.

The only piece of hers I still own, it is
a talisman of other days, though its lid
has long lost its patented burping seal.
But like a person, a product is
much more than a slogan.

*

Spiritual

A magic word
my brother
wanted to hear,
for now he says
I’m no longer
going to hell,
as if to
speak of
intangible things
made my
sinful body
suddenly
transfigure into
pure spirit,
speaking in
ineffable
tongues.

*

Gene Twaronite is a Tucson poet and the author of four poetry collections. His first poetry book Trash Picker on Mars, published by Kelsay Books, was the winner of the 2017 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award for Arizona poetry. His latest poetry collection is Shopping Cart Dreams. Gene leads a poetry workshop for the University of Arizona OLLI program. Follow more of Gene’s writing at his website: genetwaronitepoet.com.