Your clear channel is a pellucid stream. The light on the water changes and sometimes, perhaps during a storm, it doesn't appear to be clear, yet it is. The mystery and magical invertebrates, true signs of pristine waters are always there, clinging to rocks, unseen. A naturalist doesn't become less of one, when that person spends less time in the natural world or changes a viewpoint based on experience or new science. Writing is your core, and goes even deeper, then like a sea mammal, rises toward the surface for a gulp of air, and submerges again.
"What was the fruit on that tree?" Love this so much, Kortney. For some years now, I've felt pretty purged of that myth that genius and self-torture are obligatory collaborators. For some reason, there's a last little sticky piece of the whole thing that's congealed in my brain around Nora Ephron (who I LOVE; but gosh, you read Heartburn or her earliest journalistic pieces, and then you read "I Feel Bad About My Neck," and it's like a different person wrote it. Still, that doesn't mean happiness or wellness are the explanations). Anyway...thanks for the inspiration!!
Your clear channel is a pellucid stream. The light on the water changes and sometimes, perhaps during a storm, it doesn't appear to be clear, yet it is. The mystery and magical invertebrates, true signs of pristine waters are always there, clinging to rocks, unseen. A naturalist doesn't become less of one, when that person spends less time in the natural world or changes a viewpoint based on experience or new science. Writing is your core, and goes even deeper, then like a sea mammal, rises toward the surface for a gulp of air, and submerges again.
You're a beautiful writer and friend, Bill.
Re: Nora Ephron's writing going soft...
This is from the Kay Ryan Art of Poetry interview:
"It made sense to me to be as whole and well as I could be, and as happy. I wanted to see what a fortunate life would produce."
(Here's a link: http://intelart.blogspot.com/2016/09/kay-ryan-art-of-poetry.html)
"What was the fruit on that tree?" Love this so much, Kortney. For some years now, I've felt pretty purged of that myth that genius and self-torture are obligatory collaborators. For some reason, there's a last little sticky piece of the whole thing that's congealed in my brain around Nora Ephron (who I LOVE; but gosh, you read Heartburn or her earliest journalistic pieces, and then you read "I Feel Bad About My Neck," and it's like a different person wrote it. Still, that doesn't mean happiness or wellness are the explanations). Anyway...thanks for the inspiration!!