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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Quiet Sneak Preview



Near our house in the shadow of a hill in Sherburne was a pit scaled with fieldstones picked long ago from the old hayfield beyond. It was close enough to supply the rock I needed for building a wall beside our driveway. The slabs on top were gray and bleached, dry lichen clinging to them in oval patches....

* * *

...I saw daffodils deep in the forest and headed for them. They were an early breed, small and subdued, but they betrayed settlement, yards, and home. Someone had planted them and doomed them to a perennial life, immortal in the place that had been surrendered by the short lives of people. They continued to multiply and bloom for over a hundred years, expanding into misshapen patches....

* * *

The soldier arrives home to discover that the war he has returned from has already been forgotten, and because he has survived as a witness to it, neither he nor his country are innocent. Both try to dream again, the soldier by remembering himself before the war, and the country by forgetting the soldier it sent away.

– Benjamin Busch, Dust to Dust: A Memoir
 


7 comments:

Gerry said...

Really, really looking forward to tomorrow.

P. J. Grath said...

Don't forget your camera, Gerry.

Dawn said...

OK Gerry, you should be the official photographer so PJ won't have to worry about that part! Hope everything goes well. Wish I could be there. If you can save me a book and I'll send up a check...make sure you (PJ) email me (later is fine) with a total. HAVE FUN!

P. J. Grath said...

I won't be able to help taking some pictures, but the more the better. Dawn, I sent you an e-mail. I put your mailing address in it, not because you don't know your own address (!) but so you can assure me that I have the correct one.

Deborah said...

A mail address on an email - I love it! A very practical solution Pamela. I'm looking forward to an event story and a lot of photos because I won't be able to be there. Echoing Dawn - have fun!

Dawn said...

Thought about you yesterday and hoped you had a great turnout!

P. J. Grath said...

Dawn and Deborah, no text except for captions, but the photographs are up today.