Mindfulness for those who would rather not
An Almost Full Moon
Although almost full, the moon was only a muffled speck of light behind the clawing late season clouds, and although barely a spreading reflection above the mountains, a reflection still. It had been raining on and off throughout the day and the ground was wet, and the brush Billy was burning was wet too but…
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Stories in the Hills
Billy had long ago feared that the stories were over, that the well had run dry, that among the trying and challenge of the world his role in it had been engulfed by a feverish pace. And then in the evening with the setting sun made more orange by the wildfire haze, he was walking…
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Dessicated
In the afternoon the sky grew amber and shaded, and in the late afternoon thunder rolled through the clouds to the south. The fires already were close enough that the ash falling from the sky was only charred, intact pine needles that hadn’t disintegrated completely to carbon. But the clouds still rumbled in the heat,…
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A letter to a friend
I wrote this a little while ago, the only thing I’ve written in months. It takes quite a bit of energy to expose my thinking on paper – even when writing fiction it’s most of me that fuels the story – and I’ve been hording every bit of energy I have these days to stay…
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Dreams
I had a dream last night, a room full of people brought together to unite against some common enemy. It was never made clear what the enemy was, but we were representatives of dispersed communities dressed in fur and leather like a scene from the Game of Thrones. The leaders of the group stood at…
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Subtle
I see the subtlety in things to a disturbing degree. I see the betraying twitch of an eye in conversation or hear a change of inflection. I watch a snowflake falling through the bows of a tree while listening to someone speaking. I pick up on someone tapping their finger once, and I pick up…
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In a March of Snows
Towards the end of February the clouds began to break and it started to look like winter would begin to wane, but at the end of the month the clouds came back and it started to snow heavily again. In March the snows continued and each morning was grey and white except for the forests…
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The Haunting Tree
There is a tree nearby that haunts me, rooted deeply into the hillside and growing up far into the horizon crooked and crippled, imperfect. And when I look at it, I then look out across the Marron Valley at Parker Mountain, and my eyes follow all of the aberrations of contours, the patterns of trees…
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The Undercurrent
Tonight I wandered the property with the dog. It was dark but with a bright cradle of moon, bright enough even through the clouds that it cast light on the sidecut pathway across the hills, and across the valley below dotted with headlights and farm lights. It made shadows out of the tallest sage bushes…
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Minutiae
I don’t even know what this is, but I like the wording. Sometimes I just write to hear myself talk. 🙂 I’m in bed with the tiny things. Not organization or complex steps and process, but that thing that is a lot more subtle than this, that thing that lies under the finer details. A sideways…
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