essays – Life Along The River

Let Me Confess

I heard the buzzing like a crying child or a siren in the night. A wail or a scream. Except it was a house fly and I was brushing my teeth. But I knew it was the sound of struggle. The sound of a fly battling a spider. Have you heard it? The distress call…

Geese

A spring, not so long ago, I discovered two Canada geese in the field by the blue pool. A spring when my father was still alive. The pool is a luminous ribbon of water that arches away from the river and cuts across a fallow field. I visit this part of the river often. Follow the…

Jellyfish

“Do it again,” the kids yell. They crowd around as my husband leans over the side of the dock and traces his hand through the water. Flashes of green spark in the water. We all bend toward the water and splash our fingers, making trails of color in the dark. “Bioluminescence,” my husband says and…