Winter's Wounds

It's dark, it's cold, and my body is deteriorating.

Preface

Two pieces today, both about ground and feet. As in, the ground. And human feet—which is how we ground.

First is an example of free writing. I love free writing! I have used this practice extensively in my teaching. I give students a prompt and then ask them to write whatever comes to mind, without stopping, for five minutes, then encourage them to share their revelations with their peers. One morning last week, my friend Mo and I (and a cuddly cat) were sitting on the couch, and she said, “let’s do a free write.” I said, “for how long?” “Eight minutes,” she replied, so I set the timer, “and the prompt is ‘breaking through the hardpan.’” “Okay…”

“Wait, what is hardpan???”

Second are two excerpts from an essay I wrote over the course of 2021-2022 which is forthcoming in the wonderful new volume To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers, edited by my friend Rae Garringer. Pub date is April 1st, and that’s no joke!