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Mark Hiskes

Mark Hiskes is a retired high school English teacher from Holland, Michigan, who devotes his time to a number of things: two delightful grandchildren, Sylvie and Paige; his wonderful wife, Cindy, with whom he rebuilds and refurbishes old furniture for sale in her antique booth; reading ever more great books, ancient, old, and new; and doing his best to write poetry, stories, and essays that might, God willing, tell some manner of truth.

Featured

A Word to Gatekeepers

I’m no theologian, but I am a Bible-reading Christ follower, and after rereading the gospels recently, I can’t cite an instance where Jesus meets needy people honestly seeking him and keeps them away: Samaritans, prostitutes, lepers, adulterers, demon-possessed, tax collectors, prodigal sons. Regardless of their sins or ailments or reputations, he opens the gate to every one of them. It’s the Pharisees and, sometimes, the over-zealous disciples he reprimands for trying to close it.
Mark Hiskes
June 3, 2024
Reviews

The River We Remember

With The River We Remember, his latest stand-alone novel, William Kent Krueger has crafted a story as engaging as any he’s written, though not as memorable as This Tender Land.
Mark Hiskes
January 3, 2024
EssayFeatured

Afraid to Teach

We must do something, because trusting teachers and nurturing trust in the classroom is vital to the survival of real education. This is especially critical in Christian communities, where our concerns for building bridges of love between people is our godly calling.
Mark Hiskes
August 22, 2022
Poetry

Sacred Incipience

Then I saw the tree—dead, fallen years before, limbs snapped raw like broken bones, its trunk a shroud-less corpse still teeming with life.
Mark Hiskes
July 20, 2021
Poetry

E Pluribus Unum

I measure, saw, drill, and rummage for more scrap wood, the garage air redolent with the sudden grace of Christmas tree, the gift of century-old spruce when cut.
Mark Hiskes
July 20, 2021