For two months now I’ve been digging in the field of grief and loss with nothing but a spoon. So when my husband David and two other friends commented this weekend on how “intense” (code word for a variety of dark and heavy descriptors) my recent postings here have been, I got the message. Time […]
Admit Them, Admit Them
Thank you, collective mind. And in this particular case, thank you friend Sally Reed. In response to my posting below entitled Talisman, Sally sent me the following: This brings to mind another less acute, but still astute, evocation of grief as a dog. It’s by Denise Levertov. Talking to Grief Ah, Grief, I should not […]
Staying Awake in our Unending Dream
Emergency Kit When I find myself among a laughing tribe, I know they hide something from me; I conjure up a laughter box whose button I press to outlaugh them all. As long as they hear their music, they leave me free; I don’t want to surrender all I have. I am a moving stump […]
Keep Here Your Watch, and Never Part
Seeing Mark Morris dance the part of Dido and her alter ego The Sorceress at the Boston premiere of “Dido and Aeneas” in 1989 was one of those nights at the theatre I’ve never forgotten. What a fortuitous combination of Purcell’s music, exquisitely ordered but emotionally fraught, with Morris’ infectiously seductive, inventive and extremely contemporary […]
Talisman
A Surprise in the Peninsula When I came in that night I found the skin of a dog stretched flat and nailed upon my wall between the two windows. It seemed freshly killed – there was blood at the edges. Not my dog: I have never owned one, I rather dislike them. (Perhaps whoever did […]
Blogging Redux
Has it happened, are there more blogs now than people on the planet? The uncontrollable sprawl of online scribblers has led to a lot of pondering in the media lately, with cultural critics ready to unpack and dissect the implications of this curious new form of expression and interconnection. I have intentionally kept clear of […]
Stillness, in Color
A few views of the Lake District, where color and stillness speak Ask Me Sometime when the river runs ice, ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt […]
Pace and Pitch
Maybe you are like me. Maybe you too get easily seduced by the pace and pitch of another culture. Whenever I return from being and breathing with fellow humans who don’t speak my language and are refreshingly free of the troubles that plague anyone who lives in this country right now, reentry is a slow […]
Ancient Land
What a relief to spend the last few days in a country that doesn’t have a president named Bush. The cheery Cumbrian men who stopped in to repair a leak in the ceiling listened with patience while we complained about how difficult it is to be an American abroad, and then pointed out that the […]
OOTBCIP (Out of Town, but Checking in Periodically)
I leave today for England, followed by a visit to Italy to see my daughter Kellin. The first part of this trip will be spent in the Lake District in Northern England, just south of the Scottish border. I will be staying at the Lodge, in Ivegill, a place that has been masterfully magicized by […]