Ian Woollen | Muir Woods or bust

The two men emerged from the car and cautiously approached the steps to the porch. Marvella’s eyes flickered with recognition. The rest of her regal bearing gave away nothing. Large and in charge. The rocking chair creaked. “Marvella, what happened to all your cows?” Doyle asked. “We didn’t see any cows on the way in.” “Sickness from the electrical towers,” Marvella answered. “Of course, you were long gone when the […]

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Rose Shrader | You reap what you sow

I imagine my mom as a slender German girl, long strawberry-blonde hair, standing still in her school uniform in front of a gray and cheerless building, with all she owned in a suitcase, wondering when her mom would be coming back to get her. She did not know initially it was a German Catholic schoolhouse for disobedient girls or why her mom arranged for her to go there. Later on […]

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Plant intelligence

The thinking behind this month’s theme can be summarized in the following quote from Stephen Harrod Buhner, who is also this month’s interview subject: “Because all life-forms, irrespective of their nature, must, to survive, have a sense of not me, they all have a sense of self, they are in fact self-aware. “Because all life forms, irrespective of their nature, must, to survive, be able to analyze the nature of […]

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Melanie Figg | What there is

I sloughed off the weight of him. The burden of shame rinsing off like water paint coloring the sink, fascinating & temporary. Ascending & delightful to ascend. This is what the prophets promise. This is what I have found at the end of struggle: a clear field, room to run. The pond is deep blue & chilling, jarring as any act of grace: an audible gasp, erotic & begging for […]

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