
There is no rest for the mind
in a small house. It moves, looking for God,
with a mysterious eye fixed on the bed,
into a cracked egg at breakfast,
looking for glory in an arm-chair,
or simply noting the facts of life
in a fly asleep on the ceiling.
The mind, sunk in quiet places,
(like old heroes) sleeps no more,
but walks abroad in a slouch hat
performing adultery at violent street corners;
then, trembling, returns,
sadly directs its mysterious eye
into a coffee-cup. There is no rest
for there are many miles to walk in the small house,
traveling past the same chairs, the same tables,
the same glassy portraits on the walls,
flowing into darkness.
There is no victory in the mind,
but desperate valor,
shattering the four walls,
disintegrating human love,
until the iron-lidded mysterious eye
(lowered carefully with the frail body
under churchyard gardens)
stares upward, luminous, inevitable,
piercing solar magnitudes
on a fine morning.
–Horace Gregory, from his first poetry collection, Chelsea Rooming House (Covici-Friede, 1930)
I love being published in physical print, but I like being able to share with you, too. This is a print publication of my poem, “Awakened by the Nashville Skyline.” It’s in the winter issue of Pasager Press’s journal.
Passager is a nonprofit, independent publisher whose mission is to publish the work of older writers, encourage the imagination in the later stages of life, and create beautiful and welcoming publications.

If you’d like a copy, you can order it here: Pasager
All my writing right now is fiction. No time for blogging, so to say hello I’m sharing things I read. This is a short story called “February” in the esteemed Persimmon Tree journal. I found it terrifying and haunting and incredible.

Not my work, and not at all reflective of my experience. This essay by Maria B. Olujic lets you into a different worldview and its consequences, and it unfolds like a blossom. I love it. Herstry is such a fine publication.
https://herstryblg.com/true/2026/2/11/we-didnt-have-a-word-for-fun
