Walking by flashlight
at six in the morning,
my circle of light on the gravel
swinging side by side,
coyote, racoon, field mouse, sparrow,
each watching from darkness
this man with the moon on a leash.
~ Ted Kooser. November 18. Cloudy, dark and windy.
Preface of Ted Kooser’s “Winter Morning Walks: One hundred postcards to Jim Harrison“:
In the autumn of 1998, during my recovery from surgery and radiation for cancer, I began taking a two-mile walk each morning. I’d been told by my radiation oncologist to stay out of the sun for a year because of skin sensitivity, so I exercised before dawn, hiking the isolated country roads near where I live, sometimes with my wife but most often alone.
During the previous summer, depressed by my illness, preoccupied by the routines of my treatment, and feeling miserably sorry for myself, I’d all but given up on reading and writing. Then, as autumn began to fade and winter came on, my health began to improve. One morning in November, following my walk, I surprised myself by trying my hand at a poem. Soon I was writing everyday.
Photograph Credit: Lily Limited
How wonderful! Keep on walking.
It is…thank you.
I love the way this man stitches together word pictures! “…this man with the moon on a leash.” Magic….
totally!
i love his perspectives while on his walks.
Would love to join him and then look over his shoulder when he writes about his experiences.
oh, me too –
Whether poetry or something else, writing is good for the soul.
It is…
What a stunning picture! I envy the freedom he has to walk before dawn, under the cover of the stars and the moon, seen only by the night creatures.
So true Carolann…it is a stunning picture.
The sky has been like that lately. Milky Way looking amazing. Stars bright in a deep, dark sky.
You see that?! Wow.
Don’t you? Is it that bad in a city?
Man! Our library doesn’t carry this book of Ted’s, but it does have others of his. Will let you know if they’re as gorgeous.
Please do!
I don’t know which I prefer more, the picture or the poem.
🙂 Me too…