White Pine, Red Cedar
Evergreen
decked in strands of web
separated by wind
ushering in winter.
Once summer’s home
to spider’s fare
of fly and flea
now flown
and barren
blown down,
a single hair
of hoarfrost
catching crystals.
Sparkle, twinkle
single thread
newly adorned
in celebratory
refracted rays
of holy light.
Margaret Ann Philbrick serves the Guild as the curator of the Redbud blog on Patheos at
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/redbudwritersguild/ She also co-edited and contributed to the
Redbud poetry and essay collection, Everbloom, Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed
Lives (Paraclete Press, 2017). Her first novel, A Minor - A Novel of Love, Music and Memory
(Koehler Books, 2014) garnered critical praise, “An emotional story…clear prose…delicately
constructed….nuanced characters….breaks the mold.” Kirkus Reviews. Back to the Manger
(Singing River Publications, 2009) created with her mother, an oil painter, is now a family
Christmas classic with ten years of consistent sales. She and her transgender sibling Carly are
featured in the video curriculum for the book, Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach which teaches
people how to love authentically amidst lives in transition. Her poems and articles have been
featured in numerous anthologies and publications including C.T., Relevant, Ready magazines,
The Redbud Post and Patheos on-line. Margaret and her husband live on Lake Mendota in
Madison, WI and serve U.W. students from their lighthouse on Langdon,
https://www.instagram.com/lighthouseonlangdon/ . She is the mother of three highly dramatic,
artistic children and an obsessive compulsive dog, Snuggles.
Courage whispered the autumn leaf He, born of spring’s budding hope commissioned for summer’s verdancy yet most glorious in decline Courage urged the autumn leaf As he, in trust and gratitude…
Ah Ni stepped off the airplane and immediately sensed she was in a new place as the odors of fried food and coffee assaulted her senses. Excitement and fear intermingled as she settled her backpack more securely on her shoulders and followed the crowd through the airport. She glanced around at the signs in English….
Writing as a vocation is not where I expected to be today, but I can confidently say that God has exceeded my expectations in redeeming my pain and causing my story seeds to grow.
Charlotte is a successful romance novelist who escapes city life and moves to the small town of Crispens Point in Blackberry County. She immediately connects with some of the quirky but friendly residents and begins to feel at home right away. When a friend invites her to attend a local community church, Charlotte is attracted…
It is time to draw near again To come home to You, to what is deep within me, and to those who gather around me To watch and to wait; to be open, to surrender, to accept To seek out peace, quietness, meditation, and prayer. For I will be encompassed, consumed As joy and pain…
“Someone needs to take out the trash. I can smell it from here.” Our daughter, the prima donna, diva ballerina shouted from the stairs as she rounded the corner to grab her bagel breakfast before heading off to high school. Claiming an extremely sensitive sense of smell, she regularly managed to opt out of this…