StateoftheOzarks Weekly

The Day Before

BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… THE DAY BEFORE. A lemon sky gathers, clouds a distant tangerine smudge where the sun is setting on the far western horizon, somewhere over Oklahoma it seems, and the ribbon road is again endless, east versus west, time over and again. The forest ridges tumble away on all sides, faceless, nameless to…

StateoftheOzarks Weekly

Storybook Dirt

BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… STORYBOOK DIRT. The smell of the leaves is strong in the November dusk, strong and acidic and tannic and luminous, the smell of the forest’s death and rebirth, of the garden and autumn all at once. The sun slipped beyond the west seemingly only moments ago and now all is but dark.…

StateoftheOzarks Weekly

The Bitter March Wind

BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… THE BITTER MARCH WIND. The bitter March wind stirs the red oak leaves on the hillside, leaf litter heavy in the late afternoon. The sky has cleared, temperature dropping quickly. Thankfully, the cab of my F-150 is warm as I navigate the going-home traffic. I turn the wheel north, north through the…

StateoftheOzarks Weekly

Cedar Gloom Puppies

BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT… CEDAR GLOOM PUPPIES. My puppies are running, circling, wrestling in this overcast of Christmas Day, bounding through grasses brown and fledgling green. Christmas Day is a demarcation of sorts, singular handful of days over our lives, days to remember through the long years. Has this Christmas Day been better? Has it been…