we walked osaka garden and i walked on the pond and saw a red koi flash under my feet. no other birders appeared and few birds were moving. the air stilled as everything slowed and went hiding. the shadows seemed to gather mass, limned by honeyed sunlight. 

i got a cultural history of animals in the modern age in the mail and opened and saw right away a picture of Oolong the rabbit posing with an object on his head, like mister. so i think it's another meant to be. i feel oddly dissociative, with all sorts of connections multiplying in and around me. the film of john berger by tilda swinton came two days after his death, also filled with connection. i tell myself just relax, it's flowing, it's cold, and the brain and body and spirit and shadow get sluggish; don't resist. john berger said something about the seasons, how they are not something that happens to us, not something we resist, but something we inhabit. and as ever he spoke about the depredations of global capitalism and the destruction of nature building empire. 

 

we think not in words but in shadows of words.       
-vladimir nabokov,
strong opinions.