A Christian story-teller, poet, and thinker writing from Ottawa, Ontario.

Tag: Winter

  • Exhausted

    Exhausted

    In Canadian winter

    Gasoline-powered

    Cars

    Wheeze along

    Clogged arteries

    Chain-smoking.

    Todd Anderson (Stuff of the Rind, Sand and Sail, The Reluctant Prophet) writes the newsletter Mirth to share a behind-the-scenes look at his writing process as well as to offer readers the first fruits of his poetry and reflections. He grew up in the forests of small-town Ontario, contending against nature in all its beauty and harshness.  His training as a literary scholar of Latin and English literature inflects his love of poignant turns of phrase, but it is the influence of his family and their myriad adventures together that infuses his story-telling and poetry with its substance and power.  Todd lives and writes in Ottawa with his wife and six children. If you are interested in supporting Todd’s work, please follow the links below to donate or buy his books.

  • Freezing Rain

    Freezing Rain

    O rain, weep not, it is thy wedding day.
    For thee skies wait, as guests in bright aisles
    Turn back brighter faces and rise attentive,
    Choraline music consecrating a shared witness.
    It is true, thy procession is a descent,
    But all water is destined so; young maidens
    With broken hearts pour rivers forth and mend.
    Besides, ye wear winter’s pureness;
    Warm aspéct will acclimatize at altar,
    Alter from voluble will to firm resolve,
    As Ontarian streets receive December showers
    And transmute the wondrous stuff to joyous ice.

    Todd Anderson (Stuff of the Rind, Sand and Sail, The Reluctant Prophet) writes the newsletter Mirth to share a behind-the-scenes look at his writing process as well as to offer readers the first fruits of his poetry and reflections. He grew up in the forests of small-town Ontario, contending against nature in all its beauty and harshness.  His training as a literary scholar of Latin and English literature inflects his love of poignant turns of phrase, but it is the influence of his family and their myriad adventures together that infuses his story-telling and poetry with its substance and power.  Todd lives and writes in Ottawa with his wife and six children. If you are interested in supporting Todd’s work, please follow the links below to donate or buy his books.

  • Grace

    Grace

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  • But I Say To You

    But I Say To You

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  • What Winter Says

    What Winter Says

    What Winter says, she says to all,
    Proud or small.
    She loves to see
    On cloud or hill
    Glistening snow in playful hands,
    Where wind or bands
    Of young ones know
    What snow is for
    And how to throw
    With fit of joy or tempest wild
    The chilly stuff
    At man and child.
    Sometimes she rushes in the door
    With ample store
    But finds us cold
    To strangers bold
    And so resolves to stay away.
    Thus youth must pay
    For grumpy hearts.
    Or, when her step is slow,
    And wandering here or there
    ‘Midst idle flakes laden with care,
    She tastes our wonder
    Sweet as cream
    Or sugared dream.
    Then she smiles and lays at night
    Her blanket full of fresh delight.

    Todd Anderson (Stuff of the Rind, Sand and Sail, The Reluctant Prophet) writes the newsletter Mirth to share a behind-the-scenes look at his writing process as well as to offer readers the first fruits of his poetry and reflections. He grew up in the forests of small-town Ontario, contending against nature in all its beauty and harshness.  His training as a literary scholar of Latin and English literature inflects his love of poignant turns of phrase, but it is the influence of his family and their myriad adventures together that infuses his story-telling and poetry with its substance and power.  Todd lives and writes in Ottawa with his wife and six children. If you are interested in supporting Todd’s work, please follow the links below to donate or buy his books.