Soul Mountain Retreat #8

A river runs through the Nature Preserve behind the house. Eight Mile River it's called, designated "Pristine" by the Wild and Scenic River River System of Connecticut. Shaded by large old hemlocks, it reminds me almost exactly of a stream in Central Ohio that I discovered on a walk with a friend, Buck Sanford. Thirty-three years ago that was, but the rushing water in the river and the scent of the Hemlocks bring it back so vividly it could have been last year. The flood of memories triggered has prompted me to write an essay about nature and discovery and longing. Back then Buck taught me to pay attention to plants and to look and listen for birds. He's a wildlife biology professor now at the University of Denver. And I'm still paying attention; I was an artist then, I'm a writer now. But the memories give me a hankering to pick up my pencil and draw. So far my visual impulse has been expressed through photographs--the river, the trees, the newly budded leaves, the blossoming pear.