I walked into the wild, the high country, a silence, the first to the end of that sky canyon, no sight of human tracks before me on the last of the great snow embankments. I was held in my steps alongside fields of fallen rock, above hidden torrents. When I arrived, I realized it is […]
As night summoned a hidden despair, I sang in silent harmony with a lone coyote; his call was ragged with longing and he was wondering where his love had gone. When the song was over, and the stars hung still, I whispered to the wild spirits who understand such things. Know my heart O world […]
He leaves the house before dawn to stand out under the moon and that single morning star, listening to everything; a torrent within, outside, the distant northbound train, the dogs in the hills serenading the end of night, the interstate humming. An owl speaks of the first world in the far cottonwood. The man is […]
“In the respects in which the soul is unlike God, it is also unlike itself.” St. Bernard You were born a poet, slow to affiliations otherwise. You do not belong but to elements and instincts, just the basics, in a place, embodied, of a home and a small handful of people. You were familied, churched, […]
Walk out into the first world, exhale into the sphere that reckoned this random scattering of tall grass into the field. Be received. Hail the wild geese and wish the ducklings well. It is morning and the fitful dreams are rinsing out into the one reality within the seen things.
If ours alone to chart a course unto the stars. If but a day to seize a breath of sunlit air. If mere a touch of earthly flame where flesh was heartened innocent, to give the fruit of loin and womb as gift to world with no return, still, there is love. If toil adorned […]
Field Notes on Faith and the First World
Exploring depths previously unsounded in oneself, as best one may.
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Supporting ways of being that are life-giving and sustainable for people, communities and the planet.
Believes everyone has a story to tell.
James Scott Smith 