Rose Gold and Pewter: Learning to Breathe in Grief
I've been trying to learn to breathe. I'm very good at holding my breath, and rushing myself about from here to there to somewhere else. But drinking water, and breathing air always seem profoundly new to me. So there I was, walking with the dog along the river, watching the red-wings do their thing, thinking of nothing much, when it suddenly occurred to me to be a writer is to aspire to the spark, and the fire. What human wouldn't want to know the solitary crow, poppies, snaps, forget me nots. cottonwoods. and four-o-clocks. I've recently finished a commission of several paintings for a doctor's office over in Junction. Large pieces. The daunting substrate and the big ol paintbrush sat there for weeks before I could bring myself to begin. Somehow the stakes feel so ridiculously high, they dwarf the sky. I...