The bike path has come alive again and so have we. Songbirds call from tree to tree and Bear Creek roars white, frothing up the sides of its banks. My wheels kick up the beeswax musk of crushed cottonwood buds. It is almost unbelievable, this sunshine, streaming unapologetically through vapor lingering in the air. The … Continue reading
It’s hard to believe that I am one year through my two-year masters program! When I moved to Ashland last July, I hoped that riding my bike would be as much of a central activity in my life as it was in Portland. Well, lo and behold, it has. I commuted to Medford on the … Continue reading
Nothing is mysterious, no human relation. Except Love. -Susan Sontag- They met under a tree in in late September, converging in the midst of their diverting trails to make a decision. She had left things scattered about his house the month before, in the bathroom with its cold, hard ceramic green tiles. She had left … Continue reading
“Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope- a different, sometimes lonely place, of truth-telling about your own soul first of all and its condition, the place of resistance and defiance, from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be, as it will be; the place … Continue reading
Winter. Time for what’s told only when light makes itself scarce. Slight days, cold-hefted nights lengthened for listening from the poem “Gather Close” by Paulann Petersen One day, we took a drive. Wheels turning along the banks of a great river, past the lacy descent of a waterfall, under the shadow of autumn hills, to … Continue reading
She opens her eyes in the morning to see dust in her room floating in the air. The light catches it in streams. She thinks this is beautiful. He is on his 30th hour without sleep, but peers into his patient’s body, chest cut open, at a live, pulsing heart. It is burgundy and navy … Continue reading
You can never tell with them. Dangerous and riveting creatures altogether. Best to avoid them because they can do and will bring you [pain]…but they are so utterly fascinating, so unpredictable, so allowing, that you find yourself drawn to them almost against your will, against your better judgment, against all sense and sanity, day after … Continue reading
There is so much humanity to uncover discover recover His rear light flashes cheerfully as she steadily overtakes him. As his shape comes more steadily into view with each stroke of the pedals, the details began to clarify: fluorescent Velcro around his ankle, blue raincoat striped with reflective tape down his arms, Keen tennis shoes, … Continue reading
I wake up to the sound of water on asphalt, falling from the sky in a mist. Outside, mountains of foliage have convened in street gutters in soggy, decomposing piles. The streets glow with a sheen of wetness, a shade darker than we’ve been used to, a consistent wetness that won’t leave for many months. … Continue reading
Love. There are so many ways to express it and so many different words for it. Phileo (friendship love), Storage (family love), Eros (passion), Agape (spiritual love), Compassion, Care, Kindness, Enjoyment, Admiration, Devotion…the words go on and on. People have fought wars over love, gone insane over love, had their lives consumed by something or … Continue reading
in the midst 