One breath and it is gone, which is the whole appeal. I did not blow on it. Some things you would rather leave whole than spend.
Elder
Standing with a tree that has seen more springs than I have.
I put my back against the trunk and felt how little of its life I would ever witness. There is a steadiness in old trees that I keep wanting to borrow. We stood there, the two of us, for a while.
By ear
Golden light, a borrowed melody, hands still figuring it out.
Nobody taught me this the proper way, so I have been finding it by feel. In that light it hardly mattered whether the notes were right. My hands were learning something my head had not caught up to.
Grain and grin
Sepia tones, spring branches, and an honest smile.
Most of the portraits I like of myself are the ones where I am not looking at the camera. But this one is different. I am looking right at whoever took it and actually smiling. Spring 2021, mala around my neck, same old tree. Sometimes you look back at a photo from a hard year and realize you were doing better than you thought.
