The World in Detail

August 15, 2007

Seriously, I am not stalking Lynn Freeny, but he keeps saying these really profound things. From yesterday's Early Morning Walk: “Artists see the world in more detail than the average person. A good way to explain what I mean by this is when someone walks by a tree; they see a tree. When an artist walks by the same tree he or she sees a one of a kind object that has lines, patterns, and shapes.”

I can so relate to that, except that I see early morning walks in words. I walk through a spiderweb and think “caught in a gossamer cobweb.” I see the big orange ball of a sun looking heavy in the sky already at 7:30 a.m. and think of the weight of an August afternoon, crisped grass and the cool of pine trees. I write bits and pieces of essays and nonfiction here and there, but in my heart I am a poet, and I can't help but love the language of life.

I had a friend from college who moved to Kansas after graduation. At the time I was living in Iowa. I was expressing to her my desire to get back to Tennessee. I missed, about as much as anything, the sheer beauty of the mountains. She said, “Oh, I could live anywhere. I don’t care what it looks like outside.” That, I can’t imagine.