Voices

On Turning Eighty-Nine

I've never ... been this old before, worn a body like this before, known a mind like this before, lived a life like this before, writes J. Barrie Shepherd.

Voices

Aging

A poem by J. Barrie Shepherd.

Voices

The long view

An abundance of horizon draws our gaze, delineates our days here at our rock-fast retirement center at the shore. Well-seasoned eyes seem..

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Detailing

Those head bindings rolled and laid aside in a separate place, the way the sympathetic gardener gently calls her by her name,..

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Intermission

There comes a point, halfway between the ashes and the lilies, when you stop and ask yourself “Just how did I get..

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On borrowed time: A Lenten poem

These Lenten days are loaned to us, set aside – beg, borrow or steal – from winter’s numbing latterness so we remember..

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Parting word: A poem

Gratitude is the way to go. Not only with the daily stuff – that too, of course – but at the end,..

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Locating Bethlehem — A poem

Full body search, and scan unlock intimidating gates toward the so-called Welcome Center of the Federal Maximum Security Facility, in a late..

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Nativity play — A poem

Amid sheepish shepherds, embarrassed kings, awkward angels with their bent-coat-hanger wings – my most unforgettable character is the tender-hearted lad assigned to..

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Advent poetry reading — A poem

An invitation to go deeper, to penetrate the hard-worn surface of our habitual this-and-that, permit entry to images, suggestions, even fears that..