It turns out the oaks here, in the front, they’re already named. Who? What? Why? When? Hard to tell to know. Faith, Hope, Charity. The storm came through, a couple days late, i can’t tell about mother nature or it’d be a sin. Like making fun of the teacher while they’re teaching. She is all powerful and she is assertive, and she came through. These trees, roots below & limbs above, they encircle us and it is hard to worry, with that knowing. They might be her children from longer than before hurricanes was invented.
so she came through. It rained, there was thunder, i had heard Walter Anderson say thunder rolls holy holy holy. This was more a growl, the way Wilbur grows at folks from the windows, because he feels deep down he should, but he loves everyone, he doesn’t - couldn’t - mean it, really. It were a growl. It weren’t a hymnal nor a psalm, either.
There was no wind to tear our crosses of power lines down. There was no wind to shake our foundations and our sidings and our roof. We always had our power - the lights never shimmered scared. Thankful it werent hurricane season. But the way i love this place i’d lay out on the roof if that meant i could be here somehow, in the peak of a hurricane, hollering and angry as hell.
(the truth is i have holes in my pants and paint on all of my clothes and for as safe as i feel i am always scared)
it seems as if all of nature is here to mirror. in a broader world, you can imagine what that might mean. here, the mirrors in the leaves cup the sky plainly. The water, all around, all secretive about how deep the mud is. Shattered with pine needles, same as champagne glasses. Taking photos, not seeing good yet, not knowing i am in that murk, too.
i am borrowing this computer that i’m typing on and photo editing on. The camera is borrowed. The house is borrowed. All of this time is mine, truly to my soul its mine, but its borrowed, too. Everything looks so fine on this camera, on this computer. Can’t quite tell if it’s just being here, where everything is better and more alive, or if it’s some technology that i won’t ever know, or if it’s rose glasses cuz this fountain of youth water helps the vision and your memory of it all (making everything looks sharp, and well exposed, and intentional, and ultimately, beautiful - in a world so exhausted by beauty)