Field Notes

Now

Homely, lovely

For some it is the light, but for me, the darkness that opens a pathway. I let it pour into

27 Apr

Now

Evidence

There is a place in the woods below so holy you mistake it for ordinary. Within a universe of redwoods,

21 Apr

Now

International Haiku Day

In starlight, such peace. Bears, foxes, all come to you. By day, your heart, wild.

17 Apr

Now

Baring

Standing under a string of satellites, the night, a black kite, I lean out of my body. No wind, no

17 Apr

Now

In between

How do you measure pain? The hospice nurse offers a range, one to ten. A place on her form wants

16 Apr

Now

Let's say

Let’s say there is a mountain and many ridges crowned with trees, some naked maples and alders, others spicy-green

15 Apr

Now

Stray whiskers

A bowl of stray whiskers, feline. I can’t decide if they are a collection or an offering. Some are

01 Apr

Now

Light-eater

"We eat light, drink it in through our skins." — James Turrell, artist & MacArthur Fellow, known for his

29 Mar

Now

Starfish

All night my mind full of starfish, their bodies a shock of salmon-y red, their bodies succulent hands and splayed

28 Mar

Now

Banana slug

Sometimes, kneeling before the yellow writhing of a banana slug sliming a window pane, I pray, hands pressing glass, watching

16 Mar

Now

Combs

Why give the comb teeth, that label, as if it’s a small fearful animal flashing it’s snarl and

12 Mar

Now

Heron

Take your glassy eyes away from whatever screen pierces them. Lift your weathered face out of whatever curiosity or burden

10 Mar

Now

Old conversation

So many years ago, a man we didn’t know well asked my husband, “Do you believe in God?” The

07 Mar

Now

Little salamander

"Hello, Little Salamander.” Heading out the garden room door, surprise, a dark-coppery sliver of movement, as my foot swings

04 Mar

Now

Agreements

What do we agreed to? Last night a 2-year-old video clip in the news feed: a baby pulled crying from

27 Feb

Now

Secret lily

Beneath the arms of a redwood, within it’s limbs hanging down, it is not the rain that finds me,

24 Feb

Now

Ruth Stone

Scanning a list of women poets this morning, I pause at Ruth Stone. I heard her read her work decades

11 Feb

Now

Birdy moment

In this house of wonderful tall windows, it can feel like living inside a snowglobe, only with cats and dust

11 Feb