HP Rivers

  • Final Master’s Project – Anagape Trauma and the Beloved Community

    This is my presentation of my thesis project for my Master’s of Religious Leadership for Social Change at Starr King School for the Ministry. It has been an incredible labor of love and a healthy dose of tears and swear words over the last year, and I couldn’t be more proud of it. I hope…

    HP Rivers

  • Screaming at God & Screaming Into the Void

    Delivered at High Street Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday, April 30, 2023 The title for this sermon comes from my poem, Screaming at God. You can find that and many more in my recent book, Something Resembling God, now available on Amazon. An audio recording of this sermon can be found here. Do you remember…

    HP Rivers

  • The Big Sad

    The truth isI can’t rememberThe last timeI wrote a poem,Wore lipstick,Baked a cakeJust for the fun of it,Marveled at the moon. I can’t rememberThe last timeI felt like a personand not a production,The last time I wasn’tExhausted by strength,Just getting through. I don’t know whenI stopped smiling,But I know my bodyMisses laughter. I have no…

    HP Rivers

  • New Year: 2023

    Maybe this year, No sweeping resolutions..

    HP Rivers

  • Morning Prayer III

    God, I am tired.The days grow shorter and colder,But God, they are still so long,and so full.The hungry ghosts who liveIn the space between tasksNever stop wailing –They are never satisfied. God, let me be satisfied.Let me feel confidentThat I am enough,My efforts are enough,And Grace residesIn the space between breaths – May I rememberTo…

    HP Rivers

  • Cactus

    I asked my spouse To stop buying me flowers – “Buy me a houseplant instead, So I don’t have to watch them die.” So now my “Sorry you got assaulted” cactus Sits on the mantle Next to Uncle Frank and the “Congratulations on 6 months sober!” cactus And the one I picked up For her…

    HP Rivers

  • DMs From the Divine

    “There are no coincidences,”The Medicine Woman reminds me.“Only co-incidences.” Kind of like how God likes to slip into my DMswith a breathtaking sunrise,no better possible viewThan my bedroom window… anddare me to call it a coincidence thatI was just begging for a reasonto face another day. “Beloved, You are the reason.” My spirit guides gave…

    HP Rivers