Totems

Emerald green leaves with darker stripes like paint splotches, called calithea lancifolia, in a specked, sky-blue pot; a rippled peperomia, the other houseplant I've managed not to kill, purpley green leaves and magenta stems; a beeswax candle that smells of pine; a framed thistle I carried home with me, pressed into a book, from Scotland. … Continue reading Totems

With a Monkey on Your Back: Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’

I finished Patti Smith's newest memoir, Year of the Monkey, within earshot of the Crooked River in, fortuitously enough, Smith Rock State Park. Several birds and an airplane added to the river's babbling. In the morning, M and I climbed, then he went for a run and I hunted up this sheltered spot to finish … Continue reading With a Monkey on Your Back: Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’