Tension isn’t new to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From its foundation, the Church has drawn fire for its religious, social, and political stands. However, these historical tensions seem, in large measure,…
What Beatrice said of Dante might well apply to Susan Elizabeth Howe’s latest collection of poetry, titled Salt. The observation was fictional, served up in an obscure but brilliant nineteenth-century book, Classical Conversations by Walter Landor, in which, during an imagined last conversation, Beatrice tells Dante, “You will be great, and, what is above all greatness, good.”
1886 When Darby turned fifteen, his mother Cora said if he didn’t make up his mind to accept Jesus pretty soon, it would be too late. She said he had to make the choice either…
My grandson, age seven,
head bent over his crustless peanut
butter and honey sandwich,
small bowl of grapes,
From where He kneels,
Bleared with blood,
Still shaking,
As children, we liked our red-carpeted front rooms best
when the Christmas tree tossed the air with the richness
of pinyon pine,
A breath of dark earth;
The moist brown-black humus
Enfolds my body.
Tingling
His thumb and forefinger raised in declaratives
Draw initial notice, but it’s the hands of those
Near him that pull me back—something almost festive
Yet closer to restrained, in the bowed, worn widow
Jennifer Finlayson-Fife is an LDS, licensed psychotherapist specializing in relationship and sexuality counseling. In addition to her dissertation research on women’s sexual ity and desire in long-term relationships, she has taught college level human sexuality courses, as well as community and internet based relationship and sexuality workshops. Her clinical work focuses primarily on helping individuals and couples achieve greater satisfaction and passion in their emotional and sexual relationships.