Another obsession for many years has been forgiveness, how it’s at the center of the connection between history and the future. I watched the Truth and Reconciliation documentaries over and over again, and wondered what it would be like if we were all able to tell the truth, and to forgive.

The truth is
I’ve had a hard time
with forgiveness.
Revenge or resentment
Are easier. Last year
I read four forgiveness books
talked to some Serious
Seminarians I don’t intuitively
Turn the other cheek don’t know how
And I’m talking about pure pettiness
Not Big Wrongs
I’d like to learn thought one way
Might be just to say
Forgive three times a day
Forgive
Forgive
forgive

Author’s Note: Some years ago when we were both teaching at Parsons School of Design, Matthew Septimus and I decided to collaborate. Our intention was to capture holy people and holy places, all that transcended the ordinary, with his pictures and my words. Over the years we began to consider our project as a kind of prayer, how prayers would be if they were pictures and poems. This is one of an eight-part series titled Postcards for Hanukkah.