I Am the Way
Life finds a way. In boiling springs Bacteria thrive; And toxic waters Come alive. Life finds a way On ocean floors. In utter dark ...
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Oct 21, 20191 min read
IF...(for Doug Huskey)
If you watched him stand up and walk to the pulpit today, you’d never know. If you lingered and listened to him sing “The Anchor...
Oct 21, 20191 min read
On Forgetting to "Find God in All Things"
Your advice makes sense to me, St. Ignatius. For I find that when I’m immersed in the raw materials of His creation, I’m most open to...
Oct 21, 20191 min read
Struck
A tulip poplar In my backyard was struck by lightning the sudden terrible crack covered its beloved trunk with a spider web of blue...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
Once Upon A Time
Once Upon a Time there was a woman. and she lived. Prince Charming never thundered on his mighty steed from a castle over the hill to...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
A Marriage in Beds
I. Single The futon’s fabric was bare; the stuffing was shot through with collapse from our sitting lap-stacked in the center. One...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
House Church
If we still had house churches today, I’m sure they would be adorned with family size bags of Cheetos, air pods, satellite dish...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
God's Language
After dinner, the adults chat. I don’t know what they discuss. Their children make demands of me— Bring seven shells down from the...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
The Voice of the Dove
I’ve loved the mourning dove since I was a child— The soft, suffusing sound that always calmed Me then as it does now and must calm,...
Oct 17, 20191 min read
May It Not Come Undone
Thick rainbow chard and yellow corn; We run past the market tents To where the light hangs over the river In eternal September....
Oct 16, 20191 min read
A Rainy Day at Newman's Grounds
The raindrops dribble down the shopfront panes while back behind the counter the barista drips her own creation in handled earthenware...
Oct 16, 20191 min read
The Night Shift
every night we become master burpers, sooth sayers, rockers; our prayers go straight up every night we lose our breath, our pace ...
Oct 16, 20191 min read
Light in the Dark Night
(A Clogyrnach) Ripples whisper through fields of grass At nightfall when no footsteps pass Over this bare hill Where I linger still—...
Oct 16, 20191 min read
The Healer
Four-year-old David who has Downs snuggles into three-year-old Tommy’s chest like a Maine coon cat. He pets Tommy’s head flubs his...
Oct 15, 20191 min read
Psalm One
Half-uncial script letters almost as tall as my thumb the same thumb that drew a Cross with Holy Water on an infant’s forehead this...
Oct 15, 20191 min read
The Gloaming
There’s a time of day, just before night becomes, in which I feel powerful. I could take on the entire world, during this brief ...
Oct 11, 20184 min read
Ancient Paths 2018 Pushcart Prize Nominees!
Every year, hundreds of presses nominate poems, short stories, and novel excerpts for the Pushcart Prize. Pushcart Press has been judging...
Oct 10, 201813 min read
Raised Up By Love
This short story has been reprinted from the Ancient Paths archives. It originally appeared in Issue 8 (Spring 2002). In the printed...
Jul 20, 20188 min read
Run for the Money
The following short story is a reprint from Issue 11 (Fall 2003) of Ancient Paths. Run for the Money by James Steimle On a sunleaning...
Jul 19, 20186 min read
The Celebration
This story is reprinted from Issue 12 (2004) of Ancient Paths literary magazine. The Celebration by Rachel Norris Tracy looked at the...
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