Tuesday, November 13, 2007

the fleeting and the solid

A leaf lands on the window sill. I am in my office. I reach for the camera, I take one picture, push the camera away and continue to stare out on Bascom Mall.

001 copy


Phone rings. Someone needs a referral. Custody dispute. I give them several names.

And I continue to stare.

An email. Someone wants me to review a contract of employment. I look at it. Puerto Rico? You are moving to Puerto Rico? With your partner? Wow.

In a few minutes I will pick up the phone and intrude on the lives of people who I am concerned about but I dare not disturb too frequently.

Soon I will head home. I’ll think about the idea of caring for another – when it ends, if it ends, or if it continues forever. (It does, if you want it to.)

Good-night, rock solid heroes of mine out there on the sill: Japanese owl, Polish sparrow, Florentine goose. And others...


In the alternative (if your disposition leads you to prefer the fleeting), does it last from one day to another, and does it disappear as elusively as the leaf that lands on your sill one minute and the next minute is gone?