Mj Pettengill

Poverty is not limited to one’s socioeconomic status; it is often a predicament of the soul as well. —MjP

The wolf became an unexpected ally.

Sometimes we are not planning on returning home, but it is time.

I had a few options. I could grow stronger, or I could break. Being on the other side of the table is very different.

"That was somethin’ about Mamma, she always led people around. She didn’t even try. Folks just happened to follow her. When I asked her...

As a child, I remember being afraid of my grandmother. She was a keen observer who rarely spoke. When she did, her words were crisp; she...

By reaching back to the child within, grasping her hand, and pulling her into a full embrace, I had discovered honest writing at its best.

We must seek with a pure and open heart, correcting and illuminating whenever appropriate and possible.

Unworldly and innocent, he navigates merciless conditions and risks getting lost entirely, until finding comfort in a tree—a knowing tree.

If those who you called father or grandfather in this life, have departed from the earthly plane, please remember to simply speak their...

I remembered gatherin’ at the train station. The wind blew the last of the brittle, orange leaves from the unbendin’ trees, and the sky...

"My dear one, once you have answered the call and walk with the ancients, there’s no turnin’ back. This responsibility—a gift—is unlike...

Traces of past beauty mingled with her expressions, tangled hair, and lined face. She had lost most of her teeth, but her smile was from...

Do you have a treasured childhood tree that you carry with you? Of course, you may have guessed that in earlier versions of my life, and...

"If I could forget one face, one harrowin’ moment, it would have been when a young girl dove head first from an attic window. Time was...

I stopped when I noticed a little boy with only one arm. I could feel his heavy little heart as he sat with a tin cup in front of him and...

For many years, my work has focused on cultural narrative and traditions, ancestral healing, intergenerational trauma integration, and...

Mamma told Agnes and me to go outside and play. It wasn’t a place for children. We hurried down the stairs, brushin’ past Moses and Polly...

I can actually reach out the window and grab hemlock needles in a pinch. It is possible that you may have easy access, too.