Palpable Geometry

Earthy smells penetrate my nostrils as I walk along winding stream a 1/4 mile from my home. I've worked my way to an abandoned, covered well. My arrival is met by a female cardinal. I seek solace in her red-brown, breasted body inches from where I now sit. Her wings bickering with cold water.


Sunlight metamorphosis into shadow and back again while chasing the wind into nervous green leaves. Their underbelly, slightly upturned, skews the water's reflection into a myriad of trajectories. Its movement reminds me of minnows swimming a swift current.


Evening light swabs cool shadows across a brown shelled snail whose palpable geometry rests on the center vertebrae of a waterlogged branch. My eyes fall there. He's the first I've seen since early childhood.

4 comments:

Caroline Gill said...

Lovely writing - and what a snail!

Meri said...

I agree with Coastcard -- and I love the new background.

Julia Smith said...

How wonderful. The word pictures were as palpable as the snail's geometry. But I'm glad you shared the pictures, as well.

Quiet Paths said...

ah... I'm taking a deep breath and smiling after reading this.