Jan M. Flynn

With apologies to Mary Oliver Image by Nathan Osman  from Pixabay  . . . Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? That’s the line from Mary Oliver’s gorgeous poem “The Summer Day”  which is quoted so often it’s sadly close to meme status. I mean, there’s practically an entire category of Mary Oliver merch, much of it bearing that line, just on Amazon. Which I am not linking to, since Amazon is one of the three places, both literal and online, t

That sounded wrong: Allow me to explain Image by Zdeněk Chalupský from Pixabay Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, partly because of what it doesn’t include. It doesn’t involve wrapping a shipping container’s worth of presents. To the best of my knowledge, there are no Thanksgiving cookie exchanges, white elephant gifts, or themed muzak (although, admittedly, big box stores have been piping out Christmas musick since the day after Halloween). Instead, this is a day centered

Image by Petra   from Pixabay This was one of those unexpected gifts of the aging process. My husband was driving as I gazed out the window at the street just off downtown. We were heading to a writer friend’s signing event at our favorite indie bookstore. About three blocks from our destination, we reached a section that is quietly burgeoning with new cafés, galleries, shops, and a sleek coffee house.  As a coffee aficionado, I am always alert to venues that offer a perfectl

On the day after Halloween, what country did we wake up in? Image by manfred Kindlinger from Pixabay Halloween’s over The real nightmare begins now For kids on food stamps In America Where one in eight citizens Depended on SNAP (FYI: SNAP is food stamps, in case you weren’t clear). But, so what? A gilded ballroom Means more to our President: Kids can’t even vote Those who’ve never known Hard times, bad luck, injustice Know where to place blame Simple formula: Some people mad