New work up at Wild Violet, and a chicken with a sprained leg

I’ve been feeling a bit down. There is so much political bullshit screaming at me from all angles, so much lying and maneuvering and power grabbing, and then all of the #metoo revelations and then the backlash to the #metoo revelations, and then our elected officials acting so badly and so poorly, and whatever has happened? Is there no such thing as integrity any longer?

Sometimes it’s hard to write. Sometimes I think: I don’t want my words to be read by people who elect people who act badly against women and minorities and immigrants and those less fortunate in background and income and circumstances. I don’t want to fling my words out into that type of world. I can’t trust that my words will be honored, that anyone’s words will be honored in this less-than-honorable world.

And yet.

There are victories, small and inconsequential but victories nevertheless. Take, for instance, our neighbors. They raise chickens, not to eat but for the eggs, and because they love chickens. They truly love chickens. So when one of their chickens began to act poorly, they brought it inside the house and tucked it inside a cozy cardboard box, in hopes of giving it one warm and luxurious last week of life.

Then, after meeting with a vet, they realized that the chicken wasn’t dying, it simply had a sprained leg. Yes, a chicken with a sprained leg, isn’t that wonderful? They taped up the chicken’s leg and returned it to the coop and it’s doing fine and well.

Eggs from our neighbor’s chickens, aren’t they lovely?

I don’t know why but this story really boosted my morale. Because we can be a horrible species. We can lie and cheat and treat one another poorly. We can kill and wound and steal and take what we feel we deserve, with little regrets. But we are also capable of small and beautiful moments, and I think that these moments are what we should honor and exalt, not celebrities with money or people with high-powered jobs and high-powered incomes and high-powered vehicles but normal people going out of their way to make life a little better for each other, and for their chickens.

Other news:  It snowed today, the spruce and birch trees covered so that everything looked soft and feathery, like a scene from a movie.

I also have a winter (sort of) poem up at Wild Violet Literary Magazine. Here’s the beginning:

The Second to the Last Time

when the moon was full and I wore my navy silk pants / and my car got stuck in your driveway and I read poems on your rug naked / the space heater warming my ass / and you said I was a cat in another life and I laughed because I knew I was really a dog / willing to be kicked and come back for more / and after the sex and the sounds we walked the mountain roads / snow and silence / it’s easy to feel alone when you’re holding someone’s hand / we walked fast because our legs were cold / and I remembered a movie scene of a woman leaning over a railing to wave goodbye to her lover / I wondered if I’d wave when you left / but I stood in the airport and watched you walk away / then I drove home and drank tequila mixed with almond milk  because I was vegan and didn’t want to cheat /

Read the rest here:

And more pics of winter, just because I can.

 

8 thoughts on “New work up at Wild Violet, and a chicken with a sprained leg”

  1. Oh Cinthia, Thank you for writing and putting your compassionate, down to earth words out there, where they can validate, soothe, and comfort other like-minded souls. Speaking of souls, I swear we must be sisters from another mother. 🙂 In about 3 months I’ll be back in ANC, and we really must find a way to hook up for a trail run or writers’ chat over coffee, tea, or lunch. Yes? How odd to miss you when we haven’t formally met yet! I think it’s the shared interests, shared values, and some common life experiences…Please keep on writing, my dear. I’m in your fan club! ❤ – magic alice

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    1. Thanks so, so much for your kind words, Alice, and yippee, you’re heading back to Anchorage. Are you only coming for the Fairbanks race (the timed event in June) or are you staying longer? And yes, yes, we are definitely soul sisters and we MUST get together. Big hugs and see you soon.

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  3. Beautiful photos, Cinthia, and I hear you about everything else and have the same feelings. I’m sure that Seriously is a happy element in the mix? How is that wonderful dog doing? Hang in there!

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  4. Always love your photos and your words. After the Parkland shooting, I just wanted to throw it all in, hide in an earthen bubble. Our country is like an adolescent, a pimply faced adolescent whose hormones are bouncing off the walls. Our country is so young relative to other “first-world” countries and that’s the only excuse I can give us for this God-awful time we’re witnessing. And I feel it won’t change in my lifetime. But then I attended a rally yesterday the Florida state capitol and I’m back on board … all these wonderful, inspiring young people, their bravery, their words give me hope for the future … maybe even in my lifetime. Congrats on your publication. Keep looking for those small acts of kindness and beauty. They are out there.

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    1. I love this comment so, so much, and I kind of love you, too, for attending a rally and appreciating the bravery and honesty of our young people. They are our only hope in this ugly time. Our leaders are acting like pimply adolescents, which is such a great and perfect analogy that I almost laughed. Almost, because what’s happening is so far from laughable that it’s hard not to sink down inside misery. Hugs to you.

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      1. Hugs back to you! I was so glad that the rally even happened because our legislative session ends March 9. They needed to be here now even if it broke their hearts all over again. The Florida House voted down a call to just DEBATE a ban on assault weapons while the students watched. Really, I’m convinced that some politicians simply have no heart and no soul. But the young people won’t give up. I really believe they will persevere because it is a matter of life and death.

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