Jonathan Wedge
Wastewater plant operator by night, family man by day, I read and write and draw in between.
Steamy air and sticky skin, The thin sheet I toss aside On an old mattress I sprawl. The whirring fan provides little relief.
I was driving down our two lane state highway here in Missouri one day this Spring. It's officially called a "highway" but this particular stretch is little more than a two lane country road, with ...
The sun sinks behind the hills. By the pond I take pictures Of clouds shining like gold. I watch them slowly fade orange, Then red, then violet As the sky gives way to Ever deepening shades of blue.
Dr. Yan Pol loved cats. But his arthritis was making it difficult to get around and he knew he wouldn't always be able to take care of them. So he built one last droid and programmed it to take ove...
Do you ever stop and think? For us introverts it's a common practice. You might think we are so quiet because we have nothing to say. The truth is we are thinking of at least five different thing t...
a sonnet
I can paint the world that I see And you can paint the world you see. From my point of view I'll show things to you That seem new. Look and see!
The sky is gray when I get up in the morning I hear the "pity pit-pit" of rain that's pouring. But by the time I dress the rain is stopping. After breakfast I pull on boots and go walking.
A poem for Spring By J. Camden Wedge
The outer airlock door opens and I step onto the platform at the top of the space station. I look up at Earth, and my breath catches in my throat. A tear forms in the corner of my eye and I instinc...
"You should know," Brenda said, "that when you called I almost turned you down. I really wanted to just stay home and finish the book I was in the middle of," His eyebrows shot up and his smile f...
I can't tell you what the flavor notes were. I just remember I really liked the coffee. It was the summer of 1999 and I was in southern Brazil. Well, it was June anyway. I was in Curitiba, a town s...
# Beginning Version One
"Where we goin' mom?" I asked as she helped me with my shoes. "To Sietsma's orchard," she replied. I grinned broadly. Mom stood and handed me my red hoodie. I put it on and zipped it up. Mom put ja...
I dug my fingers into the bread dough and squeezed. I stretched it and folded it over and mashed it down onto the counter. After kneading the dough for a few minutes, I formed it into two round ba...
So I'm trying something new. Well, not really new, people have been doing it since, well, probably since the beginning of human civilization. It's not even entirely new to me. The thing is, I am no...
One night this Spring after supper I let the kids play outside while I cleaned up the kitchen. "You can't be out long," I told them, "dark clouds are rolling in." My weather app predicted severe th...
Chapter one, version two
There was a man who had no water. It had not always been this way. For many years he bought drinking water in bottles from the store. He was grateful for the water store because before the owner ca...
Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about life and work and faith and the meaning of it all. It was anxiety inducing. I was tempted to give into cynicism and question whether anyone is living ...
# Crashing Down I sat in my car in the parking lot at the park. I came to watch the ducks, but next to the park a crane was smashing a building. There was a claws on the end of the arm and the oper...
I have a confession to make: I don't make New Year's Resolutions. That probably makes me a heretic. I mean, it's what you're supposed to do. it's like an unwritten rule or something. Everywhere you...
A couple of nights ago on the way home my wife and I heard from the back of the van, "Tori taught us new song." So they sang it for us: "I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath, I used to rock...
They say, "Go big, or go home," and in a game show that might be a good idea. Unless you know you will be happier with the smaller prize, go for the big one when you have the chance, no matter how...
My mom had a little proverb she used to say. I didn't always like hearing it, but eventually I understood that it was actually good advice. "Zip up you coat," she would say. "I can't," I would say....
You might have heard the Native American proverb, "Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his moccasins." I was wondering where it came from so I looked it up found out it came from a poem written ...
I don't remember who said it, Tony Robins probably, but what was said was, "Some things are scary but not dangerous, and other things are dangerous but not scary." He used repelling as an example o...
"Winners quit all the time." ~ Seth Godin I heard Chris Guillebeau talk about quitting as a way of succeeding on The Portfolio Life podcast episode 101: How to Find Out if You Were Born for This. H...
I love podcasts. They help me pass the time at work. I've heard some amazing, true-life stories on podcasts. A couple of weeks ago I heard Suroosh Alvi tell how he started VICE Media on the "How I ...
The other day an old friend invited me to dialogue, knowing we have different worldviews. He said he picked me because he thinks I respect people even when their views are different from my own. I ...
*I am crucified with Christ . . . Galatians 2:20*
## No more excuses Have you ever said something like, "I love to do that someday"? I'm sure I have once or twice. The other day I asked myself, "if I really want to do that thing, whatever it is, t...
A few months ago I had the country station on while working. I was doing a boring task and music helps pass the time. I might have recently heard a message about marriage being a physical illustrat...
I heard a sound bite about some dude who admitted publicly that he is a bigot. I don't know who he is and I'm not writing about him, except to say this: it takes courage to be that vulnerable. I wa...
It was three A.M. I didn’t want to be awake. I tried to count sheep and when that didn’t work I tried to pray, but every time I closed my eyes I could hear the preacher. “Surrender your life to the...
The grass is always greener on the other side, or is it? I drove past a pasture the other day and watched a cow stretch her neck through the barbed wire for a bite of grass. You might think that th...
