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Open Letter for Creation’s Caregivers

June 19, 2023 by Watt Childress 5 Comments

Do echoes of knowledge persist in special landscapes even after wisdom-keepers die? Creation can inspire us to revive caring ways that mend broken bonds.

Filed Under: Culture, Nature, Spirit, ULE Tagged With: Cannon Beach, Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, Creation Care, Grief, Talking-Stick

Swimming with the Words

April 24, 2023 by Watt Childress 4 Comments

How did it feel to Get Lit at the Beach after postponing the event for three years? Like refueling an empty tank, breaking a long fast, or coming up for air? The experience merits more than snappy similes.
[Read More]

Filed Under: Art, Books, Culture, Featured Writing Tagged With: Elise Hooper, Get Lit at the Beach, Lauren Kessler, Lyanda Haupt, Omar El Akkad, Terry Brooks

Old Goat Plunges into Another Year

January 6, 2023 by Watt Childress 7 Comments

Fifty winters after my emergence on earth I climbed up a dune and surveyed the beach below. Over a hundred primates were reveling near the frothy hoof of Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain.
[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Spirit Tagged With: Capricorn, Jesus, Lamb Chop, New Year, Pan, Polar Plunge, winter rituals

Midterms in the Oregon Multiverse

November 2, 2022 by Watt Childress 9 Comments

Wouldn’t it be useful to return to our origins, be like the salmon and travel between worlds? We could compare how realities diverge over time; explore every fork, each different decision. That might give us creative ideas for improving our own dimensional prospects.
[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Movies, Nature, Politics, Spirit Tagged With: Dan Evans, Dixiecrat, Dixy Lee Ray, Goonies, Jimmy Carter, Mark Hatfield, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Tom McCall

Rainbow Brotherhood

February 11, 2022 by Watt Childress 3 Comments

God bless Gene Maddox for reminding us that we’re all part of a multi-hued story made by thoughts and words and actions.
[Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Spirit Tagged With: Black History Month, Eighth of August, Gene Maddox, George Clem School, New Hope Cemetery

Color Guard opens the Pearly Gates

November 12, 2021 by Watt Childress 8 Comments

Behold home’s holy regalia,
heaven’s earthbow — team chroma.
These robes hold souls with
sweeps of breath-giving glory.
[Read More]

Filed Under: Art, Culture, Featured Writing, Nature, Poetry, Spirit

More Than Allies

July 30, 2021 by Watt Childress 5 Comments

She led me into a room packed with family and the Holy Ghost, then gestured toward an old man seated in the pit of raw grief. I hunkered down beside him and yelled the first words that came though my heart. [Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Nature, Spirit Tagged With: cedar, Ceremony, climate change, marriage, Medicine, tobacco

Relampago en la Republica de Poemas

March 4, 2021 by Watt Childress 2 Comments

Les doy este circuito de letras cargadas por los recuerdos de nuestra amiga, la señora Ursula K. Le Guin, quien fusionó palabras en nuevos mundos brillantes. [leer más]

Filed Under: Art, Books, Culture, Featured Writing, Poetry, Spirit Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Diana Bellessi, Dolly Parton, hillbilly, lyric essay, Pátzcuaro, Saint Lucia, Thunderstone, Ursula K. Le Guin

Ave Chingada

December 23, 2020 by Watt Childress 2 Comments

Trained up in the Bible Belt, I’ve heard many righteous hellfire sermons rebuking the Whore of Babylon. I don’t recall much mention of the Pimp. [Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Poetry, Spirit Tagged With: Andrew Johnson, Annunciation, Babylon, Chattel Slavery, Christ, Condor, Constantine, Eagle, Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, James Henley Thornwell, Jesus, Malinchi, Mars, Mary, Octavio Paz

Night Vision

September 4, 2020 by Watt Childress 8 Comments

With the world in tumult, on many fronts, this year’s transition toward the dusky months adds layers of worry. We need medicine to help us navigate the darkness. [Read More]

Filed Under: Culture, Featured Writing, Nature, Spirit Tagged With: Barred Owl, Ceremony, Medicine, Oregon Coast, Tourism

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More Gleanings

Here Try Some of This Ointment

April 17, 2024 By Watt Childress 4 Comments

We are the Luminaries

August 8, 2023 By Watt Childress 2 Comments

Open Letter for Creation’s Caregivers

June 19, 2023 By Watt Childress 5 Comments

My November 2022 Ballot Choices

November 6, 2022 By Rabbi Bob 1 Comment

One Cup of Tea

November 15, 2020 By Lila Danielle 1 Comment

Additional Wisdom...

Readers’ Comments

  • Watt Childress April 28, 2025 at 11:48 am on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltAlso, you inspired me to insert a sentence crediting Hoyt Axton with the song's genesis. Many thanks!
  • Watt Childress April 27, 2025 at 10:55 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltThank you kindly Jim for reading this and commenting. I enjoyed your review of "Sun House" by David James Duncan,
  • Jim Stewart April 27, 2025 at 8:26 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltNice! Hoyt Axton wrote the Jeremiah song and sang it with great gusto. Life wanders on and I'm still glad
  • Watt Childress April 26, 2025 at 3:51 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltDuring spring I think of you, and all the May Pole celebrations you've organized over the years. So grateful for
  • Watt Childress April 26, 2025 at 3:18 pm on Uncle Zech’s Amphibious GestaltIn my dreams I sing to the multitudes, with a voice as clear and sweet and churchy as Lou Reed.
More Comments...

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