Late To the Party

Reader(s):

I have just finished the most extraordinary book. You may well have read this already because everybody else has (including the President) a few years ago. However, if you have not read:


NETHERLAND by the extraordinary Joseph O'Neill

PLEASE READ IT IMMEDIATELY.

 I know I love a book or a story when finish it and think, damn I wish I'd written that.

When I read the last sentence, my first thought was "breath-taking" and then I realized that I had been literally holding my breath for the last page and half.

That is all.

On with your day.

Love, Margaret

P.S. If you're looking for a way to support the arts, think about helping Brian Padian fund his feature film, the black sea - here.

Just this

And the point is, to live everything.

Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rilke (the 4th letter)

If you're looking for something to do on Saturday evening, I'd love if you could come to this reading for The Frozen Moment.

I'll be sharing the stage with some of my favorite folks:
Tom Spanbauer
Liz Prato
Brad Rosen
Charles Dye
Michael Sage Ricci

And there's music too!

If you can't make it, pretend you're there thinking how fabulous it is.
Thanks!

Forgive my absence

Dear Reader:

Sorry for my long absence, but I had a baby.
Caring for him will certainly cement my blogging tendencies to not blog.

Until I get ahold of this parenting/writing/blogging thing, I hope this photo will tide you over:

The End of Sitka

Only two days left of my time at Sitka.
My work here has been different than I expected, and I will be walking away with new stories I did not anticipate.
The land here is so beautiful it's both distracting and nourishing, which I think is the idea of a residency.
If it were all as simple as meeting your agenda, you might as well stay home.

So here's to Sitka and Cascade Head and the pygmy owl and the breaching whale and the bald eagles and the seals and sea lions and the herons on the river. This time has been unforgettable.

You Don't Miss Your Water

A Rag, A Bone, And A Hank Of Hair


I'm sitting alone with my father at the funeral parlor.
Viewing hours have just begun, but it's midday work
week, and for a few hours it'll be just me and him, the
first time I've laid eyes on him since the phone call
woke me up.

I'm doing what a son is supposed to do, or so I've
been told, but it's hard work, sitting with what used
to love and trouble you.

Of course, his body is a bright lie in its casket,
everything that has brought him here carefully
hidden or rearranged.

Is there something I want to tell him? Anything I
can forgive?

I can only sit and wait and listen to the gospel
music as it buzzes through the speakers. Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus. All his time, all his struggles that I still call life.

All his trials.


- Cornelius Eady