ThroughLines is a journal I began in the summer of 2020. It includes essays, photos, and poems about the experience of living in this time of change.
If I had to choose
If I had to choose I would choose the blue tractor sitting in silhouette on the hill, waiting for my neighbor to decode the sudden weight of wind and heat and the murmuration of birds to determine the day for…
read moreSeeds of Friendship
During the 18 months since I last wrote in this space it has been quiet in my garden, as well as in my writing. Another drought deepened. Few monarchs visited, hence few eggs were laid and even fewer caterpillars and…
read moreWave of Delight
Heading Home On the launch of the James Webb telescope on December 25, 2021. They sent a telescope today to look for you. It will peer out from the dark side of the moon, from unrelenting cold, to find your…
read moreGrant and Zarafa
If Zarafa would sing, if she would share her secret songs for me to hear, I believe today she would sing a medley of familiar American songbook tunes in praise of Grant, our friend who coaxed her into being, gave…
read moreWitness Protection
Headline News this week: “Teenage Girl Bears Witness.” Darnella Frazier, at age 17, watched and recorded the protracted suffering of a man, George Floyd, as his life was slowly, purposefully extinguished by another man, a policeman. As he was dying…
read moreA Congress of Crows
I’ve been trying to the love the crows. These sunny winter days they swarm and swoop across the newly planted fields next door, finding seed, exulting loudly in their good fortune. By the hundreds they lift and fall. But it…
read moreImprovise and Thrive
A few nights ago I was reminded of the deep sense of calm and joy that can come from improvising. Just for a moment I sat down at my piano. I thought I was bored; I thought I was sad;…
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