Thoughts on writing and reading
I ve been thinking a lot about drought. And fire. And rabid animals. Yeah, I m fun at parties. There s been a spate of rabid beavers. This alarms me, as even not-rabid beavers are nothing to trifle with. I saw a video of a guy pulling a beaver off another guy s leg, twice, and flinging it far Continue reading In the fetid wombs of black air under pines in summer.
When our friend the artist announced she was going to Antarctica with a science research group led by a local scientist for some ridiculously long time, we, her friends, said, um, we want to meet this dude, so we know whether this is a reasonable idea or not. So we made her throw a little Continue reading in layers, since layers,
Occasionally I m oddly undone by a casual comment. A month ago I ran into an old colleague, someone to whom I feel warmly and always enjoy seeing her. But she said two innocuous things that left my brain whirring around and my pie hole flappin soundlessly. She said, You look good. Comments about my looks Continue reading to my one life, when I will finally be wordless. What
I attended a concert by highly accomplished students and teachers from a music camp nearby, and I was awestruck by their skill. And envious of their world of music. And grateful too, that I d had some experience through my voice studies of what it s like to settle deeper and deeper into a piece of music, Continue reading if I should just calm down about that. I really hope I m doing this right.
I have traveled a bit and have, wonderfully, a little mental cabinet of moments; they lie like orbs in the dark until I take them out into my mind s light. One such is evoked by this poem by Lola Ridge. I had arrived after a journey to a hotel on the edge of things in Continue reading And I lay quietly on the drawn knees of the mountain
I ve taken a break from submitting my work, to try to break the cycle of anticipation/dejection, to break the spell of maybe. And I ve been on vacation, so freer to consider myself from afar, and think, okay, what are you, and let s do something else with that. Or do the same thing differently. Or do Continue reading strong, but anxious and discontented amid all that messy beauty
When I arrived, a woman was sitting in the quiet at a side table in front of a laptop, looking pensive over the keyboard. Two people were setting up a table of books for sale. One by one people drifted in, slightly disheveled, many, some looking halt and infirm, then others arriving in twos and Continue reading time works it out
I ve been thinking about the wind, its partnership with seeds, with pollen, its agency with water, how it casts it beyond its own reach, and sand, rising as clouds from the desert to whirl and settle to crevices in odd places, and weather, wind its worldwide vehicle. And wind s havoc, flattened forests, but from which Continue reading particles, pollen, all the dirt of the world
Life During Wartime
A gorgeous day as I rode the waves of a county road up from the river and into the glacial-carved bays and fjords of this county, rising into the air to crest a blind hill, easing past the slower vessels, a horse and buggy, a man in a flat brimmed hat pushing a bike, all Continue reading into empty sky