We live in an area of Nova Scotia known as cattle country. The land undulates between fields and forests, with handsome red or weathered-grey barns, and dusky cemeteries with tombstones like worn teeth. There’s even a hamlet called Old Barns. The fields grow feed corn and hay. Tractors roll down the roads. There are also …
Conversing with the Land Sundays on February 25, March 10, March 24, April 7 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm Location: Urbania, NS, (near Shubenacadie) Cost: $222 Limited to 8 participants What story might be carried on the north wind, or speak from a winter fire? How might collaboration with the natural elements inspire, root, and …
Night In This World – A Journey, Part VII Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: – We murder to dissect. Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives. — from …
I’m thrilled to have a short essay included in Eight Fires, Issue 24 of Dark Mountain. This book literally grew, like a plant, from a series of workshops with artists and thinkers around the world over a year. Though separated in geography, we convened online to explore a mutual practice for creativity and living, based …
Night in this World – A Journey, Part VII For years I’ve been drawn to the story of Jumbo the Elephant. Though I don’t recall when, at some point I saw the life-sized statue of Jumbo erected in St. Thomas, Ontario, and learned that the most famous of Elephants died violently in this small town …
Night in the World Fall Features: October 2 – 15, 2023: Writers Radio – interview and readings: https://writersradio.ca/home/ October 5, 2023: The Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club for Sustainability in Higher Education – zoom conversation: https://www.aashe.org/calendar/cli-fi-2023/ November 4, 2023: Afterwords Literary Festival, Halifax – reading: https://www.afterwordsliteraryfestival.com Thanks to Marilyn G. for sending me this photo.
Night in this World, a Journey – Part VI It’s mid-August, the days of goldenrod. After an unusually dry winter, then a spring of localized wildfires, summer has brought record humidity and rain. Floods have been troubling yet the land feels nourished again, exuberant. Uncut hay fields ripple chest-high in the wind, snaked through with …
Night in this World, a Journey – Part V It’s the early days of spring here in Nova Scotia. The ground lies wet, brown, and bare. Days are often cool and windy. The first wildflower to bloom – little Coltsfoot, which opens a bright yellow face before it grows leaves– has just appeared along the …
Night in the World has been getting around! It was included in the Top 22 of 2022 Books of the Year chosen by the Canadian literature folks at 49th Shelf. Recently it was selected for the 2023 Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club for Sustainability in Higher Education, one of only four books on the club’s reading …
Our world has a nighttime face. Growing up in the suburbs, I never knew the darkness of the wild, yet I did know night.