Part One below on the “Home” page or click here.
As the archaeologist and I pushed uphill through sage and rabbit brush, he stopped to explain, quite diplomatically and in precise language, that he was in the canyon doing work pursuant to the BLM’s weighing a county government proposal to establish an ATV right-of-way through Crossfire, [...]
As often happens, this offering of field notes runs long–so long I’ve broken it into parts. Even more of interest to me than usual unfolded during this trip to Crossfire Canyon (not the canyon’s real name). Because of the nature of this experience, some of the material leans toward the technological, so many thanks in [...]
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Virginia is in 4th grade and enjoys the Warriors book series by Erin Hunter. She has started exploring photography since her father found her a digital camera at Goodwill. Nature is a favorite subject for her to take pictures of. You can find more of Virginia’s work posted on WIZ [...]
Her family sailed to exotic lands
where elephants waded through rivers,
women wore silk saris, coconuts hung
from palms, and monkeys raced
along beaches. Her brown hair wisped
around her temples and curled
like orchid petals beside black lashes.
Twice a year, their boat docked by ours,
slipping in quietly on evening tides.
Her aunt was a famous movie star,
her brother sucked on lemons,
and [...]
He walks slowly, his back more straight than not,
his gait timeless. Strong.
Still, there is something hesitant and
questioning about his steps, as though
he were feeling his way through the stony-bottomed
stream of a shallow river. The wide path allows him
to cherish his granddaughter’s hand as they walk
abreast at a pace that suits them both, supporting one
another in [...]
Existence was
worth it
if only for
the timbre
of untamed
water
splashing
beneath the fragile
white-crystal coating
of mid-winter ice.
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Steve Peck is an ecologist at Brigham Young University. Creative works include a novel: The Gift of the King’s Jeweler (2003 Covenant Communications); a self-published novella A Short Stay in Hell (reviewed here and here), a short science fiction story: The Flaw in the [...]
The twentieth century has gone down in history for a number of ignominious as well as heroic events, but certainly one of its more troubling legacies is its treatment of rivers. As agriculture gave way to industry and massive development of cities, water was victim to an increasingly private and individualistic conceptualization of property. Consequently, [...]