#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Morning, Farm Pond in the haze of Canadian Smoke
. . . Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings. . .
~ Joy Harjo, Excerpt from Eagle Poem
My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. so I could get up and work on the poem for workshop at 10:00. I dug right in. Getting coffee in kitchen Perri asked if I wanted to swim with her and I said no. I began writing. Then she checked with me one more time. It was cool and cloudy, hazy sky with the wildfire smoke from Canada. And I just looked up at her and said yes. I didn’t want to miss having a sighting of the eagle with her. Frank dropped us at the pond on his way to his meeting so we could walk back. We swam from the boat ramp, the sun an orange blob. Swam to the island. Water was pleasant, warmer than the air. She got there first and as soon as I swam in to the shallows at the island she said “Look what I have!” In her hand was a silver feather. Goose? I asked. No! It was an eagle feather! Thee were two eagles when she arrived a few minutes before me (I swam off course) and when she looked up one dropped this feather for her. One of the two eagles was sitting nearby above us on a ghost tree’s branch. Big as a small child. So much bird! His/her distinctive profile. We stayed in the shallow water for awhile, appreciating the eagle’s undisturbed presence, and then swam back to the boat ramp. Walked home through the woods, waded too, through all the beaver overflow on the trail. Then I worked for another chunk of time on my poem, eeked out a very very rough draft. It was helpful to share it in workshop. In the manuscript, I feel I am reaching some closure. Which only means I am nearing a first draft of this full length manuscript with a lot of revision ahead. Then I hopped in the car to drive to Connecticut to see my aunt. Easy trip, and a wonderful visit, as always. getting lost in conversation with her. She is fully back to herself. Cheerful, positive, smart, funny, and full of love and generosity. It was scary, her pneumonia and hospitalization and rehab. It’s so so so nice to have her back. She appreciated all my funny summer stories too. Tomorrow, I know we’ll go early again. For what Joy Harjo calls the sweeping of our hearts. The fact is, Wave can’t be with us every day. Some days an eagle attends to his absence.