BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… SEASON’S ENDS. One week ago, I was told to resign as Sunday School director, music leader, and deacon, of Smyrna Baptist Church by my fellow deacons after 16 years of Smyrna being my church home. The accusation (which was news to me) was occultism, heresy, and witchcraft. Appropriate for the Halloween season,…
Artwork by Clint Loveland, February 25, 2017. BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… STORIES TO TELL. Leaning back in my chair at Vintage Paris Coffee, I close my eyes, listening to the stories being spun and woven by the small group of dedicated writers around me. There is an oaky bitterness in the air, but only because I…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… RULES OF TRAVEL. Dusk, gray and lavender in the dark, settles over the old neighborhood. At the top of the stairs, the shadows lengthen, then sharpen, then fade. Sister and brother stand on the landing talking. “I think you’ll like this album. I wouldn’t have thought I’d like it. It’s country music,…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… DOG, HEARTH, MAGIC. The rain beats down outside, surprisingly cold, especially after so long a hot, dry summer. The warnings on my phone turn ominous: flash flood alert. Floods are sudden on a limestone plateau. No thick layer of clay here to absorb all that run-off. For the first time in what…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… INK, STONE, MAGIC. “Lithography began in the late 17th century,” my professor is saying while writing the words “Bavaria,” and “limestone” on the white board. “‘Lithos’” means ‘stone’ in Greek.” Outside, the afternoon sun is bright, air dry in the September light. I am in Graphic Arts 110, sitting in a classroom…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… LEAF & SHADOW. Late summer afternoons seem hotter, somehow, after we have been teased with the scent of fall. Autumn has become something of a designer season, all decked out with pumpkin farm experiences and flannels and big floppy hats ready-made for social media posing. When I was much younger, it seems,…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… WILD RABBITS WATCHING. The runaway mine train roars over closely cut grass, flying between stands of elm and cottonwood. It is strange to be riding a roller coaster that hugs the earth. Riding so close to the grass makes the speed seem faster. The dandelions, the mullein and the wild hawthorn blur…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… OAK & STONE. High on the mountain ridge, last light of the evening sun shines through the red sumac leaves beneath the cedar and oak. Another long day, another hot summer, another farmers market coming to quiet close. Beyond, the sound of traffic, of slamming car door, of quiet chatter from the…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… RIVERS AND LIGHT. The shadows of leaves dance on my living room wall, end of another day, end of another hot summer day. Science tells us, obviously, the earth’s rotation changes our perspective on the sun, just another star in just another galaxy of stars. Just the same, my sun sets, marking…
BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT.. CARNIVAL SOUL. The sunset streaks with orange and purple and the wind is blowing from the Southeast, ragged and fitful and soft to the touch. The wind smells of the South, all hints of loblolly pine and eternal sea and summer memory, of summers long ago, and of forbidden Southern rock beneath…