back to the Southeast

 

the stories we live

we return to the Southeast from the Southwest:

we went to where the structure of the story was revealed,

what rock, sun, wind outline of the reality

that characters, situations, and conflict establish, 

while back here in the Southeast

subtlety and nuance add complexity to the Cliff's Notes basics:

forests of trees erupt from the earth

and create chapter after chapter of overarching consequence,

here ubiquitous plants are empowered

to be, to flower, to take what sun and rain give,

to let themselves develop their subplots of the continuing story,

subplots that still exist out West

but are far more subtle in their telling than in the East,

birds, in both areas, are many, and varied,

near me now a pileated woodpecker keeps asserting its moments,

as the sky releases a light, brief shower,

later six turkey cultures glide gracefully overhead,

surfing the power of rain squall wind,

our garden nudges me to plant for spring, summer, fall,

the story back East is fundamentally the same as in the Southwest,

life is, the underlying structure of life upon the world, is,

I love both the short and the long version

of the story the Earth allows us to live,

the story the Earth challenges us

to read, to watch, to appreciate,

while we still have the ability to notice

the driving power of the tales before us and with us,

as we are both audience and bit actors

for what writes itself upon the stage before us.

by Henry H. Walker

March 16, ‘26