Summer dawn

An unusual occurrance yesterday -- awake before sunrise. Makes me wonder what else I've been missing.

One of Those Places

Maybe it’s the Earth-old granite or the glacial lake. American Indians called it Spirit Lake but it was erroneously translated to Devil’s Lake in the mid-1800s, according to the park’s Official 2010 Visitor Guide. The sensational name attracted visitors, which pleased the railroad, hotel and tourism officials. It remains an attraction, complete with tie-dyed t-shirts and cheesy beaded belts, but yards from the visitor center are ancient effigy mounds in the shape of a bear, a lynx, a bird. Rocky trails lead away from the beach crowds. Dense hot forests where trees vibrate in the rain. Turkey vultures soar on thermals and somehow you’re above them, watching the quiet lake. Heavier rain sounding like tearing paper. In the moisture each step is deliberate, life-giving, bone versus rock. The biggest daddy-longlegs I’ve ever seen, a delicate creature hugging a boulder as old as time. Ripples of prehistoric lakes. I am one thing, one blink.

Straight and narrow

Been a while since I've written anything for Three Word Wednesday, so here we go. The words are hidden, noble and roam.



The world’s largest ball of yarn (the one that’s usually in the midwest somewhere) is hanging over my head but as I drive it begins to unravel. There are always lines. The ones we cross, the ones we don’t. The ones we roam. A line drawn on the internet between my house and yours. The ball unwinds. It becomes flexible, pliable, my thoughts of you unjumbling and pulling tighter, clearer. I drive over other lines, squiggly black lines, repair cracks on the interstate. Lyrical lines that resemble Arabic text. Maybe unsuspecting motorists are driving over sacred poetry and don’t even realize. Mystic tomes about noble dervishes spinning in circles instead of going from point A to point B. Hidden words that people drive straight over, hidden songs that offer a wish for shapes.

Visitor

A backyard surprise last week, coming in for a landing on some nearby property.