“You can tell how hard the winter will be by how long each black part is,” Grandpa informed my sister and I. We were small. One of my earliest memories is this. All three of us squatted in Grandpa’s garden and looked at the furry black and rusty red caterpillar. Each end of the caterpillar was black and its middle was rusty red. It marched along on its invisible caterpillar legs and feet through the marigolds, gone to seed in early September. Now, as I write this, I imagine the three of us from above. We are in a semi-circle…
Year: 2019
Ways of Water
The wet salty mineral smell of the sea wrapped around me, held me upright and pulled me towards the waves. Sea gulls dipped and glided below clouds a shade darker than they. Their white heads stood in stark contrast to the shades of grey, and their yellow beaks glowed. Their strident calls fell in sharp notes into my ears, reddened by the fresh west wind. At my feet, dull tan sand gleamed a matte wetness, firm as each wave scrubbed it and returned to the sea. A voice behind my right shoulder explained, “Each seventh wave is larger than the…
Swan
The beautiful photo of the swans was taken by the talented Janet Wallace. Did you too see it, drifting, all night on the black river? Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air, an armful of white blossoms, a perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned into the bondage of its wings: a snowbank, a bank of lilies, biting the air with its black beak? Did you hear it, fluting and whistling a shrill dark music, like the rain pelting the trees, like a waterfall knifing down the black ledges? And did you…
Jack Sparrow
Freedom Today was the day. As I sipped my rich coffee with thick cream before the sun rose, I decided it was time for Jack to go free. His tail feathers were frayed from his near constant fluttering against the wire mesh of his cage. I did not want them to get so damaged that he would not be able to use them to fly when he left his cage. A part of me did not want Jack to leave, but I knew as a wild bird it would be best if he lived his bird life as he was supposed to, out in…
Jack Sparrow
A bit of time has passed since the last chapter in the Jack Sparrow saga. If you care to refresh your memory of the story, or if you are new to Jack’s story, the previous three posts are here: (First) https://earthwisehorse.com/jack-sparrow/ , (Second) https://earthwisehorse.com/jack-sparrow-2/ , (Third) https://earthwisehorse.com/jack-sparrow-3/ Caged Jack clutched his perch in the closet. His beak was half open as he panted. His feathers were all puffed out. I managed to close my mouth after his unexpected flight and began to think about how I would catch him. Since I had not handled him except to pick him up a few times for…
Winter White
Above me the sky is white. Snow as fine as sand drifts down. Under my feet, the ground is white. I am cocooned by white. It is cold. The whole last week has been subzero. The temperature bottomed out at -40 degrees Fahrenheit a couple nights ago. Or that is my best guess, as my electronic thermometer quit reading after -39 degrees. I had no intention of poking my nose out the front door to look at the mercury thermometer. Cold is cold. Now, it had warmed up to -7. Wow. Following days cooped up in the house, I went…