occasional posts by risa aratyr
Three weddings and three funerals in three weeks. You don’t have to be a mystic to note the numeric significance. On my calendar, this synchronous cascade of life-and-death events has been tumbling through the waning Hazel Moon and into the waxing Vine, bridging the dark transition between the two and spanning the Equinox-tide. In my lexicon, … Read more The Reckoning
When Jim told me he had cancer, it didn’t much worry me. It was in his fingertip. They amputated the digit at the joint, threw his cancer in the trash. Good riddance. His finger stump was intriguing; even cool in that weird “lemme see your scar” kind of way. Turned out, that wasn’t the … Read more Eulogy
When the oak tree fell last December, it crushed my daughter’s car and robbed the potato vine of its fence. The unsupported lianas have been heaped at the base of the oak tree’s stump ever since — a gigantic ball of brown twine with a few green threads stretched over the top. We cut … Read more In the Heart of the Season
I don’t quite understand how people can justify taking a stand on one side or the other of the fate / free-choice fence. Even if you believe the decisions we make about our lives are ordained, to claim that our reactions to events and situations are likewise and entirely pre-determined and that how we … Read more Symphonic Variations
I didn’t need the iteration. Didn’t need to spend another entire effing day crunched at the computer slogging through endless business emails to realize that changing my job didn’t change anything — I’m still working too many hours for too little pay. Didn’t need to catch sight of the unchopped wood under the … Read more The Portents