“A novel,” Randall Jarrell once wrote, “is a prose narrative of some length that has something wrong with it.” There is a notion abroad in Mormondom (one I doubt Herbert Harker subscribes to) that there…
We are the sisters of the sea.
Something there is in you and me
That calls us to our very coasts, bids us stand
Where green-veined breakers moan upon the sand,
Seeking something the old oceans hide.
On the hearth kneel astride;
Now bend, so light laps your
Body. Set loose your hair:
Now from the fire’s throat it
I want to say it’s been swell knowing you,
even as you grow toward the grave,
hurt hours when your confinement will set free
that body from its berth within the womb.
Some nights in a small cove
sea and shore talk endlessly
(of dapples shallows hollows)
seeking sun despite the polar
breath from dark’s yawning throat
(Marriage Song for DJ. and N.J.)
I. Before Sunrise
Artemis,
too faint for shadows,
wanes over the western sands.
Religions is for women. Says Madeleine, Portuguese-Catholic, chunky in her black pleated skirts, cackling always, nudging God. Women believe it. Women practice it. When pews are filled they are filled with women. Men eh they…
In this century the controversy between science and religion has shifted from natural science to social science. The conflict is less heated because religion is culturally less important now than it used to be. Still…
Institutions, structures and traditional roles provide necessary meaning, support and direction in people’s lives. Chaos occurs when they are wholly lost, and yet too much structure and constricting roles, out-of step with a changing culture, contribute to problems which may require psychiatric treatment.
Eliciting commitment while maintaining participative membership is a major consideration for organizations such as the LDS Church. Relatively few Mormons, for example, formally leave the Church, but many “fall away” from participation and commitment. In…