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Recent Posts
- Psaltery & Lyre’s New Site
- 123 Psaltery & Lyre: “Agricola Dreams of Flying” by J. Rose Lara
- 122 Psaltery & Lyre: “Communion: a love poem (a villanelle)” by Rachel Bollinger
- Book Review: Philip Metres’s Sand Opera
- 121 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Horsehead Nebula”
- Book Review: Monica Ong’s Silent Anatomies
- 120 Psaltery & Lyre: Rachael Matthews, “Return, pt. III” and “Gaia”
- Book Review: Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
- Book Review: Matthea Harvey, If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?
- Book Review: LoterÃa Cards and Fortune Poems: A Book of Lives
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The Sanctuary Archive
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My Own Personal Canon: Childhood House
Posted on July 28, 2015 | 1 CommentSeveral years ago, in the midst of researching the process of canonization, or, how the Bible became what it is now, I started keeping track of texts and poems and essays that have been particularly meaningful to me. I started thinking of these writings as […] -
Word up!
Posted on January 8, 2015 | 3 CommentsEnergy.Follow through.Wherewithal. These are my words of the year from the years 2012, 2013, and 2014, as I’ve written about here before. And as I start year four of this family tradition, I’ve been doing some serious thinking about just how much impact one […] -
The Rotting Forest Floor in Our Own Personal Sacred Groves
Posted on November 12, 2014 | 20 CommentsEarlier in the fall, I was visiting a ward in Austin, Texas with friends. The high council speaker genuinely surprised me by sharing something in his talk that I had not yet heard of nor considered: the process of saving the sacred grove. As soon […] -
The Word on the Street
Posted on January 5, 2014 | 6 CommentsLast year, in “One Word,” I wrote about my family’s relatively new tradition of selecting a word for the year, an idea we borrowed from author Debbie McComber. My mom has nicely elevated the tradition by ordering each of my sisters and I vinyl […] -
Speaking of Spirituality
Posted on September 13, 2013 | 5 CommentsPhyllis Barber is the author of eight books of fiction and creative nonfiction, including How I Got Cultured (voted one of the five best books written about Las Vegas), Raw Edges: A Memoir, and To the Mountain: Memoir of a Mormon Seeker, forthcoming from Quest […] -
A Letter from the Past for Today
Posted on September 12, 2013 | 35 CommentsI am a college writing teacher and every semester, I assign my students the argument classic “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King, written in 1963 in response to Alabama clergymen who believed King’s visit to Birmingham under the auspices of the Southern […] -
Battle Hymn of My Mormon Mother
Posted on May 13, 2013 | 8 CommentsFirst thing: It is somewhat appropriate that my tribute to my mom is showing up after Mother’s Day proper. My card and gift also showed up after Mother’s Day proper. No, I didn’t say this was commendable! I’m not proud of being tardy to the […] -
3 Little Gurus
Posted on May 9, 2013 | 13 Comments“The greatest advantage of not having children must be that you can go on believing that you are a nice person. Once you have children, you realize how wars start.” Fay Weldon This week, I’m especially mindful of the familial relationships and how they can […] -
A Street-Legal Version of the Beatitudes
Posted on April 14, 2013 | 7 CommentsI am reading The Street-Legal Version of Mormon’s Book by BYU music professor Michael Hicks (and recently did a Mormon Stories Book Club podcast with him . . . stay tuned for its release). The book is not a translation of the Book of […] -
The Pharisee Within
Posted on March 31, 2013 | 7 CommentsToday, I gave a talk in church about the last week of Jesus’ life. In the course of my talk prep, I was struck by the multiple warnings and chidings Jesus gave in his final days concerning the Pharisees, that sect of Judaism that focused […] -
Thanks (but no thanks) for the Sabbath School
Posted on March 23, 2013 | 8 CommentsI’m halfhearted about Sunday School. Okay, less than half. I feel like a boy who’s been held back in, say, fourth grade. A year goes by, then two, then three, and on and on for decades and he’s still stuck in fourth grade. The only […] -
Rain or Shine
Posted on March 17, 2013 | 4 CommentsWhen my then six year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes six years ago, I heard someone close to me asking the question, “Why him? Why us? Why me?”, but I genuinely didn’t feel that way. Instead, my response was “Why not him? […] -
What We Talk About When We Talk About Culturally Constructed Holidays
Posted on February 10, 2013 | 5 CommentsFive out of six dentists agree that five out of the last six Valentine’s Days I’ve lived through have mostly sucked. The one in the middle was swell, though, since a wonderful friend was at my house to visit and she generously shared the roses […] -
‘Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love
Posted on February 3, 2013 | 2 Comments-Submitted by Michael Hicks I got choked up when I played that sacrament song today. It takes awhile to explain why. But please stay with me as I try. Our hymnbook has two settings of “‘Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love” (nos. 176 and […] -
One Word
Posted on February 3, 2013 | 5 CommentsI am a recovering perfectionist wannabe. Sometimes when I think about who I used to be, I marvel that I could have gotten so flustered about so many things, but that version of me wanted everything to be perfect (everything being defined as those things […] -
Parenthood Juggle: From SAHM to Single Parent
Posted on December 31, 2012 | 10 CommentsI couldn't quite believe my bishop had confidence in my ability to be in charge. "Are you sure about this?" I asked him. "My life is falling apart right now." -
The Years of Magical Thinking
Posted on December 23, 2012 | 12 Comments“I know the truth about Santa Claus, Mom. I know the answers now, the real answers,” my twelve year old son said to me solemnly last week, waving a Christmas card featuring the red-cheeked jolly man in his hand. “You do?” I answered cautiously, treading […] -
Words, Words, Words
Posted on December 2, 2012 | 7 CommentsEarlier this week, someone I didn’t know, someone I’ve never met, just a woman in pain, mistakenly thought I had taken something of hers, or rather, someone of hers. In a fog of unstable hurt, she lashed out at me. The attack was virtual, a […] -
What Teaching Argument Taught Me About Talking Politics
Posted on November 4, 2012 | 4 CommentsAlthough I fancy myself an amateur city planner with dreams of working in the professional back-up dancer field, I actually spend ten months of each year teaching writing for a living. In my fourteen years in the classroom, I’ve presented hundreds of lessons on principles […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Desdemona’s Honeymoon from Hell
Posted on October 28, 2012 | 4 CommentsThere are a few things I know really well in this world. I know how to make a delicious marinara sauce, I know the second soprano part of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by heart, and I know Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of […] -
What to Do with Regret
Posted on October 28, 2012 | 3 CommentsI believe that as we spend quality time with love ones, stretch ourselves to live up to our potential, and allow ourselves to be happier, we may not have zero regrets, but we will certainly have fewer of them. -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Singing Together
Posted on October 7, 2012 | 3 CommentsOne week ago, I had just sat down on the piano bench in the Primary room and started to play some wiggle songs while the junior primary children galloped in, restless from an hour spent on church pews, when a fellow ward member scared me […] -
Christ Within
Posted on October 7, 2012 | 12 CommentsToday’s guest post comes to us from Bill. On a recent business trip to San Francisco, while on a walk with some coworkers to find food, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of this man sitting with his dog, panhandling […] -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Pinewood Derby
Posted on September 23, 2012 | 5 CommentsHere is an example of just how swell my post-divorce home teachers were. During one Sunday afternoon visit, they asked for and each ate a large bowl of spaghetti and homemade vegetarian sauce made with soy instead of meatballs – and they claimed they COULD […] -
A Whole Lot of Craziness
Posted on September 2, 2012 | 10 CommentsIt’s funny how one story can take on different meanings, reveal different themes, and speak to us in new ways depending on who we are during the time of reading. Case in point – I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye three times (conveniently in […] -
Starfish Beyond Mountains
Posted on August 19, 2012 | 4 CommentsEveryone knows the parable of the starfish. Some of us even have a framed print of the parable, maybe a shadow box with an actual dried starfish, hanging in the guest bathroom. It’s a simple tale, even a little worn with familiarity, but the moral […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Posted on July 22, 2012 | 1 CommentA little more than a year ago, I was on my way home from a ten-day vipassana meditation course. I had spent twelve days in total at the center, ten of them without talking, with nearly fourteen hours a day dedicated to meditation. I had […] -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Tools, Tents, and Radiant Hope
Posted on July 8, 2012 | 4 CommentsToday’s powerful and inspiring Mutual Improvement Associations comes from our guest blogger, Mark. Let’s begin in typical LDS-sacrament-meeting-talk fashion and define the meaning of some words. Mutual Improvement Association. What does that even mean? It sounds awkward and clunky and a bit old-fashioned. But when […] -
PROUD
Posted on June 27, 2012 | 10 CommentsPart 1 — Setting the Stage Earlier this week I sat and thought about the weekend. Should I march in the Pride Parade? Do I belong there — as a Mormon? I’m not the most active or believing Mormon in the bunch, after all. Yet […] -
Good Grief
Posted on June 3, 2012 | 10 CommentsBut in that moment, I acknowledge the reality that it's nearly impossible for me to go back, for my faith to be sufficient, for me to KNOW that there is a God and that he knows me. -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Wednesday Nights
Posted on May 21, 2012 | 6 CommentsMy son is a bit of a puppy dog, though more bounding Great Dane than docile lap dog. He is tall with shaggy-ish hair and size nearly-9 feet and a one of kind brain. He sometimes seems both older than he is (when happily discussing […] -
Mutual Improvement Associations: Moving Day
Posted on May 7, 2012 | 57 CommentsThis is the first of at least four pieces in a Sanctuary series – Mutual Improvement Associations – wherein I try to describe the bonds that exist between members of the church/a ward. Being a Mormon means lots of things, some positive, some negative, some […] -
My Own Personal Canon: The Learn’d Astronomer
Posted on April 16, 2012 | 3 CommentsLately, I have been spending a portion of nearly every evening stargazing in my backyard. There is a beautiful quality of light that graces the Texas sky come 8 p.m. Reclining on an old down comforter, I meditate on the movement of the clouds or […] -
It is just a matter of semantics?
Posted on March 25, 2012 | 6 CommentsToday’s guest post comes to us from Andrew. I’ve spent the past several weeks euphemizing, dodging, and altering the narrative of the long out-of-print Book of Mormon Reader as I read to my two young daughters. While the artwork is as vivid and interesting as […] -
A Preview of Things to Come?
Posted on March 12, 2012 | 4 CommentsMy son is the only boy in his Primary class, which makes him the only soon-to-be Young Man in the Valiant 11 group. He will be turning twelve this spring, which means he was also the only boy invited to the ward Priesthood Preview event, […] -
Onward and Upward
Posted on February 26, 2012 | 13 CommentsMy son made a basket during the final game of his fifth grade basketball season yesterday! It was a beautiful shot, let me tell you. I was holding my breath the entire time. He jumped up, grabbed the rebound, did a half pivot and launched […] -
Where the Rubber Meets the Road
Posted on February 12, 2012 | 2 CommentsIn the space of just four weeks during the most recent holiday season, I had to purchase three new tires for my Mormon mommy minivan. That seems like a lot, doesn’t it? I certainly thought so. For the record, I prefer tire shops with mangy […] -
On Thin Places
Posted on February 5, 2012 | 15 CommentsI’ve been chewing my way through The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus Borg, a professor of religion and culture at Oregon State University. Borg’s is a very universal, ecumenical message. He’s Christian, and his heart is committed to his faith, […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Letter from Birmingham Jail
Posted on January 17, 2012 | 4 CommentsDr. Martin Luther King’s famous April 1963 letter, written to his fellow southern clergymen, was not known to me, sadly, until I was a college student, some thirty plus years after it was written. But his words, true and powerful and shining as anything that […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Bootless Cries
Posted on January 9, 2012 | 2 CommentsToday I am thinking about a profound lesson I learned as a student at Ricks College. I am thinking about the sacred text that prompted this lesson, its lines inspired, certainly, by the spirit. These lines, written by a prophet of an earlier age, spoke […] -
Reboots: Comic Book Heroes, Origin Stories and Mormon Myth
Posted on December 18, 2011 | 6 CommentsAs a kid I read a lot of comic books. I enjoyed studying the intricate character storylines consisting of their origin stories, their many adventures and their overlapping histories with other super heroes. The result was an impressive creation, a universe akin to the […] -
Ring Out, Wild Bells!
Posted on December 12, 2011 | 7 CommentsIs your ward like mine – that first Sunday of January brings another round of Sacrament Meeting talks on setting goals? For the record, I love those talks. I’m actually a big fan of liturgical calendars and wish we Mormons had one. I’ll take whatever […] -
Lighting the Way
Posted on December 4, 2011 | 12 CommentsWhen I moved to Texas several decades ago as a naive, hopelessly midwestern college student, adjustments had to be made. I had to get used to the way people here talked (there is no difference in the way many Texans pronounce “pin” and “pen” for […] -
My Own Personal Canon: Southern-fried Love
Posted on November 20, 2011 | 9 CommentsIn Paul’s 2nd epistle to Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14-17, we read this ringing endorsement of inspired writings: But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child […] -
Kitten Energy
Posted on November 6, 2011 | 5 CommentsI hope you’ve been enjoying our discussions of animal love (and non-love) this week here at Doves & Serpents. Considering that our blog’s title names two animals, it’s a wonder we haven’t had these discussions earlier! Gurgi was just a year old herself when she […] -
Going to the Dogs
Posted on November 5, 2011 | 8 CommentsThe following piece is a guest submission by Claudia Ruptier ; Ron liked dogs. He just didn’t want one-even after he’d been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment with likely progression to dementia. I was thinking of a service dog to help care for my […] -
Rotten to the Core
Posted on October 16, 2011 | 84 CommentsThe Sanctuary may seem like an unusual place to discuss Facebook status post trends, but recently, I was so disturbed by a word art image being shared and “liked” on FB walls that I wanted to analyze the harmful subtexts of this image in light […] -
Do You Realize?
Posted on October 9, 2011 | 1 CommentTwo powerful iconic men – Steve Jobs, technology visionary, and Fred Shuttlesworth, Civil Rights movement activist – died this week. While Shuttlesworth’s death was certainly mourned and reported on, it was Jobs’ death at age 56 that received the lion’s share of global attention. Over […] -
The Go-To Goddess
Posted on October 2, 2011 | 9 Comments“What does God look like?” I asked my little girl as I tucked her into bed. “Well, he is old, and he has a beard, and wears a. . ..a white dress,” she said. “A-ha,” I answered. “How do you know that?” “That’s what they […] -
Meditation Station
Posted on September 11, 2011 | 4 CommentsIf you were to open your green hymnbook emblazoned with that nifty gold Tabernacle organ icon to page hymn #144, you’d find this ode to solitude, a song about the necessity of quiet, private places in one’s spiritual life, “Secret Prayer”: There is an hour […] -
Schooled
Posted on September 4, 2011 | 4 CommentsThe kids and I began this school year with everything organized and ready. Clothes, backpacks, lunches — all ready to go. I summoned my inner “Tiger Mom” and set up our homework station and check off sheets, and prepared to whip those kids into academic […] -
Doubting Thomas & Me
Posted on August 21, 2011 | 8 Comments“Faith is like a little seed. If planted it will grow,” sing the Primary children. The Book of Alma extends the metaphor of faith as a seed beautifully. While I’m not sure where doubt fits into the metaphor (an unopened seed package?), I wish we […] -
Fast (?) Sunday
Posted on August 7, 2011 | 11 CommentsIt is the first Sunday of the month. In many Mormon families that means one thing: no breakfast! Well, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, I’ll admit, but fasting (for twenty-four hours or as close as you can get) is customary on the first Sunday […] -
10 Seconds with Tinkerbell
Posted on July 31, 2011 | 9 CommentsThis week I found myself in that place Tinkerbell is so fond of — the place between asleep and awake. I opened my eyes from an awkward catnap on the I-80 in Nevada, and for a few brief moments I forgot which Honda I was […] -
O Pioneers!
Posted on July 24, 2011 | 11 CommentsOne year we had a brown horse in the church parking lot. Bonnet-wearing girls and cowboy-hatted boys took turns “riding” him around the building. Another year, I helped organize a stake-wide celebration with all the bells and whistles. Well, no actual bells and whistles, but […] -
Great Expectations
Posted on July 17, 2011 | 3 CommentsIn 2006, Elder Nelson spoke of his first wife saying, “When people have asked her how she managed with ten children with so little time available from her husband, she has responded with a twinkle in her eye, saying, “When I married him, I didn’t […] -
Healing Waters
Posted on July 10, 2011 | 6 Comments“You’ll only be baptized once in your life, so it is a very special experience,” my grandmother said, speaking at my eight year old daughter’s baptism last week. After her talk concluded, we made our way down the hallway to the baptismal font and while […] -
This Wild Playground
Posted on July 3, 2011 | 5 CommentsThis week I found myself hanging upside-down from aerial silks in an artist’s studio in Oakland, when the blasphemous words came out of my mouth, “I can’t!” I found new levels of humility while failing to find muscles I knew I had somewhere, and trying […] -
Patriarchs I Have Known and Loved
Posted on June 26, 2011 | 8 CommentsMy father grew up in a troubled home, poor as coal dust. A child of the depression and of divorce, he lined his broken-soled shoes with newsprint. As a child, he learned to hustle, earning nickels at the ballpark any night he could. There was […] -
A Most Important Proclamation
Posted on June 19, 2011 | 8 CommentsWhen I was about six years old, my Dad walked me to primary class. We passed a man in the ward who nodded at the baby girl in my dad’s arms and said, “Wow. Four girls. I guess you’ll be going for baby number five […]