Today on the winter solstice, I’m dwelling on darkness. Beyond the window where the reflection of Christmas lights twinkle (my partner Benjamin is big on gemütlichkeit, the German word for festive coziness), the light has already faded. It’s around 4.30 pm. I often find the transition of the seasons difficult, with the fading light and … Continue reading solstice / advent: falling in love with darkness
Today, Easter Sunday, was my final Sunday as the Abbey Church’s poet-in-residence, and I chose this poem for the occasion: spring song By Lucille Clifton the green of Jesusis breaking the groundand the sweetsmell of delicious Jesusis opening the house andthe dance of Jesus musichas hold of the air andthe world is turningin the body … Continue reading on easter & impossibility
I was inspired to write this in a frenzy after seeing Pádraig Ó Tuama’s stunning erasure poem “Regarding Power, Response: Negative.” (Read it on his Instagram or Twitter.) You can treat it as a psalm of reassurance in a way. queer kinfolk do not need father church to tell us we exist. we do not … Continue reading regarding power, response: negative ii (after Pádraig Ó Tuama)
Note: This piece is the extended version of a sermon I’m giving today at The Abbey church. After some gentle nudging from my partner Benjamin (shout out to him and all those who wade patiently through the convulsions of writerly ego), I realized its original form was too unwieldy and theoretically dense for a sermon, … Continue reading In Exaltation of Queer Bodies, Hybrid Bodies, Borderland Bodies: A sermon-essay for Transfiguration Sunday
Yesterday, Sunday, January 24, was the Sunday of Church Unity in the liturgical calendar. As one might expect from someone who has a complicated and oft contradictory relationship with church, I have many feelings about this. The call to extend prayer, thought, and blessing to siblings of faith in the Global South, in Palestine, on … Continue reading no unity without justice, or, a hymn for the church of the fireweed
This service, co-written with Bunny Wilder, follows a liturgical framework from the Christian tradition and was originally hosted by Streams of Justice on Trans Day of Remembrance 2019. More here about Trans Day of Remembrance, including a link to the List of Names. We share with the hope others can use parts of this service, … Continue reading A prayerful lament + vigil for Trans Day of Remembrance
This post was written with the help of Benjamin Hertwig, partner, co-conspirer, veteran, and PhD student focusing on contemporary war narratives in Canada. November 11 is Martinstag, or St. Martin’s Day, a liturgical day commemorating the death of Saint Martin. In Germany (where Benjamin’s family is from) Martinstag is celebrated with paper lantern processions, feasting, … Continue reading martinstag: a day for peace
I originally wrote this poem for Pentecost in 2017 and updated it for Pentecost 2020, and performed it at Grandview Church in East Vancouver and (virtually) at Inhabit Conference. It is inspired by South Korean and ecofeminist theologian Chung Hyun-Kyung’s address to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Canberra, Australia in February 1991, entitled … Continue reading when the spirit comes: a poem for pentecost
holy spit! 