Whatever the reasons—advancing age, the continuing Covid-craziness and political trauma (Marjorie Taylor Greene, anyone?), or the onrushing spring term—I am pulled by what Lisel Mueller calls “The Need to Hold Still.” And in my desire I have adopted a nearby wetland. Fortunately no formalities or approvals are required: no paperwork or financial commitments, no wetland […]

I began my sabbatical year at 8:00 a.m. on September 9th, as I drove out of Brockport and pushed west toward a three-week stint as a writer-in-residence at Great Basin National Park. Fifty hours and 2,200 miles later, I arrived at the park—worn down by my insistent motion, but happy to be in the West. My […]