The Spirit searches everything

by Tania Runyan in the August 28, 2019 issue

Endless darknesses of deep space and sea
Verify something super holy’s going on
Even when your lost-in-the-middle life
Needs a shot of sanctity.

Take your mind, for instance.
How long has it been since a new note or color
Ebbed at the edges of it, or you

Dredged up one of those groaning prayers only
Egrets and demons understand? The biggest
Part of the problem is just getting out of bed—
Taking your meds and hauling a comb through your
Hair. But even that can launch your legion into
Swine, or turn your cortisol into a fine merlot

Or bind up your broken heart in the whirling
Fringe of his hem. Watch. When there’s nothing

Going for you, God will flip himself inside
Out, toss his guts on the floor, and only you will
Divine it. That’s kind of the point.

This poem appears in the August 28, 2019 issue.

Against killing children

We have become a society of people who cannot prevent our own children from being killed in their classrooms—and who do not much mind the killing of other people’s children by weapons of war.

by Wendell Berry