Tag: Church

A digital illustration of a white woman in a black sleeveless dress stands against a black backdrop. She holds a smoking object in her left hand, and, in her right, she holds a cord connected to a hanging cauldron. Subtle, amber light emanates from the right hand. From Ro Miller, credit: Imagine.Art.

“Scent of Faith” * Nonfiction * Ro Miller

aromatica poetica February 15, 2024

I was indoctrinated as a Catholic, so you will forgive the following several hundred words. I recently attended the Riverside Church Candlelight Carol Festival, an event aptly structured around a selection of Christian Carols. Upon sitting in the closely packed pews, wearing what now amounts to my Sunday best, I was thrust back into the bittersweet memories of Sunday mass. The proximity of strangers, the lukewarm dread at the approaching sermon, and the stoic resignation that worship was my reality …

A retro Christmas tree with popcorn, gingerbread men, colored balls, and a gold star on top, surrounded by beat up marching-band instruments -- bass drum, tuba, snare, trumpet, flute, clarinet, and a couple tarnished cymbals – sit on ugly blue-green shag carpeting with wood paneling behind. By Alabaster Rhumb.

A Country Christmas * Fiction * David P. Stewart

aromatica poetica December 22, 2021

Businesses in Canton shuttered early on fall Fridays as the high school drum major marched a mile of black and gold uniformed musicians round the Courthouse Square. The proud city folks followed the band in a joyful procession to Ben Roberts Stadium. Even hard workin farmin families finished their laborin ways before the sun went down so they could make their way to the famed field. The mighty Canton Panthers were consistent champions in the Choctaw Conference. Daddy mostly told …

A somewhat cartoony illustration of two boys playing watermelon baseball - in the foreground, a skinny sunburned boy in overalls is throwing a watermelon at the second boy, who is swinging hard with a baseball bat. Both are splattered with yellow watermelon juice and broken pieces lie on the ground. a long path fades to the background where a house sits on a hill. By Drake Scott.

“Aunt Dottie I Didn’t Do It” * Short Story * David P. Stewart

aromatica poetica April 14, 2021

The following story about watermelon baseball and other dangerously fun childhood activities comes from Cornbread and Lace: The Privileges of a Mississippi Farmboy, which was written by an author with both feet firmly planted in Mississippi. In David’s thought-provoking manuscript, the anguish of racism, classism, bigotry, patriarchy, war, segregation, and revisionist history are mixed with vivid stories about winged snakes, hot donuts, an old farting mule name Kate, and dinner on the ground. Thought-provoking wisdom from a loving grandmother and an …

"Boy with a Basket of Fruit," by Caravaggio, 1593.

5 Aromatic Poems by William Doreski

aromatica poetica April 9, 2019

The Sweet Purple Scent of Wild Grapes Swimming in the Scantic River in the hot swarms of gnats and sweet purple scent of wild grapes: boys and girls splashing naked together, school looming a few weeks ahead. As the afternoon wanes we leap dripping and pink from the lukewarm fish-smelling current and dress and run off in creepy little gangs, boys sneering and girls aloof as if we didn’t know each other, going home to hot dogs and beans. …