Olga-Maria Cruz
Excerpts
Poems
from Little Circe
"Even at three, she knew
the days were hers,
the tides came in,
the dune-grass curled
at her command..."
​
Poetry East, no. 61
from I'm curious
"... Yesterday, heedless as a toddler
and as easily bored,
I clicked through Malaysia (traffic)
and Scotland (river), India (rooftops),
Canada (quirky container garden)
and watched an old woman
hanging up wet clothes in China..."
The Louisville Review, vol. 90
Essays
"Fasting was a new idea to me; it sounded mysterious and powerful—a bloodless sacrifice."
from Fasting: a Diptych
The Carolina Quarterly, vol. 70.2
"I started dissociating more and differently after Papi died. Sometimes at the piano, I floated up to the ceiling and watched myself play..."
from Salvaging Parts
"Mary’s proclamation is
the good news in seed form–
if you pour water
on the Magnificat,
you get most of the Bible!"
"Surprise! God isn’t doing exactly what we thought.
Surprise! God’s timeline isn’t exactly what we thought.
​
God is the mystery that breaks into all of our certainty.
And that’s good news: we don’t have to harden ourselves..."
Sermon on Amos 5: 18-24; Psalm 70; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
Sunday, Nov 12, 2023
St. John's Lutheran Church, Walhalla, SC
"The good news is that there is enough to share. And regardless of material wealth, any of us can be rich toward God..."
"Elijah prays for death.
God responds with life.
...I believe God answered his deeper prayer, the prayer behind the prayer. Elijah doesn't truly want to die. He wants relief.
And when we ask for mercy, mercy comes."
Sermons
“'His disciples remembered.'
His disciples—plural.
They remembered in community.
Together, they remembered."
Sermon on John 2:13-22
Sunday, Mar 3, 2024
St. John's Lutheran Church, Walhalla, SC