August 1, 2023

In one of my parallel lives, I studied mid-20th century literature, particularly how the setting/place becomes a character and serves as an important part of the “man against man” conflict. And not in a naturalistic way like London’s Call of The Wild or any other book about someone outsmarting the elements. It’s more finely pointed than that. The character is quieter and lives in the subtext. My three favorite writers who capture the essence of a landscape and create a character from it are Willa Cather, Leslie Marion Silko, and Gretel Erhlich.

Today is a case in point—setting as character. This evening, thunder storms marched towards us like Kachinas coming for their due. I was warned off walking under a particular tree “I think the rattlesnake I saw crawled up that tree. You don’t want to stand underneath it”. And this morning the sunflowers were all false bravado and feigned cheerfulness as they waved at me in the morning breeze.

The word he chose to express “fragile” was filled with the intricacies of a continuing process, and with a strength inherent in spider webs woven across paths through sand hills where early in the morning the sun becomes entangled in each filament of web. ― Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony