He presses the side of his once-famous face hard against the warm velvet of the giant sequoia, breathing the scent of eons of growth and struggle, feeling the basin and range of the bark against the length of his out-flung arms, his widest stretch embracing only a tiny span of the epic circumference.

The search had been going on for days. Every morning, just after dawn, the rangers gathered at headquarters to strategize the new day’s increasingly desperate efforts.

Please, pelican
Teach me to be graceful in community
and beautiful in solitude

On some level I knew it was going to happen from the first evening I met Sam.

I should have known that would be the last time I would see him; the eagle should have warned me.

I was only slightly nervous as I drove through the iron gates to his house.

Navigable Sorrow
He stands at the sink watching the sun set on the still water. “There will be stars in the lake tonight,” he says aloud to the emptiness.