Join us for Holy Week 2026!
Navigating the "twisted thicket" of a complicated world requires a truth that cannot be tamed or simplified. Standing before Pilate, we hear a call to a kingdom not of this world—a truth found in the mystery and poetry of the wild.
Behold the suffering in the dry spaces of our world. Stand in solidarity even when systems feel cold and unyielding as slate.
Ritual action: Review your evening conversations. Where were you "tangled" in half-truths? Where did you see the "thread" of God’s truth?
Linda Hogan
In my left pocket a Chickasaw hand
rests on the bone of the pelvis.
In my right pocket
a white hand. Don't worry. It's mine
and not some thief's.
It belongs to a woman who sleeps in a twin bed
even though she falls in love too easily,
and walks along with hands
in her own empty pockets
even though she has put them in others
for love not money.
About the hands, I'd like to say
I am a tree, grafted branches
bearing two kinds of fruit,
apricots maybe and pit cherries.
It's not that way. The truth is
we are crowded together
and knock against each other at night.
We want amnesty.
Linda, girl, I keep telling you
this is nonsense
about who loved who
and who killed who.
Here I am, taped together
like some old civilian conservation corps
passed by from the great depression
and my pockets are empty.
It's just as well since they are masks
for the soul, and since coins and keys
both have the sharp teeth of property.
Girl, I say,
it is dangerous to be a woman of two countries.
You've got your hands in the dark
of two empty pockets. Even though
you walk and whistle like you aren't afraid
you know which pocket the enemy lives in
and you remember how to fight
so you better keep right on walking.
And you remember who killed who.
For this you want amnesty
and there's that knocking on the door
in the middle of the night.
Relax, there are other things to think about.
Shoes, for instance.
Now those are the true masks of the soul.
The left shoe
and the right one with its white foot.
Linda Hogan is a Chickasaw poet, novelist, and environmentalist whose work explores the profound intersection between Indigenous spirituality, the natural world, and social justice.