Sweat

Wondering

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Kahlil Gibran

Buster, a black border collie, nose to nose with a brown and white paint horse with a white forehead and muzzle on the other side of a wire fence

Margo Fowkes in Tears

The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You’re not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs. Laura Lamb Brown-Lavolie

Folsom Lake during the drought. The water level is low in the background. In the foreground, the hills are covered with purple lupine and dotted with evergreen trees

Margo Fowkes in Tears

The Wheelchair

The empty wheelchair stood along the wall, a few seats open on either side. She chose the seat on the left of the wheelchair because of the electrical outlet nearby. She needed to charge her phone before her final flight home.

Paula Wychopen in Sea

Dialing My Dead

The trick of functioning with grief is that of remembering and forgetting all at once. Of letting the ghost walk at your side but not block your way. Jack Ketchum

Margo Fowkes in Tears

My Brother, Michael

I was only 10 when my older brother, Michael, died. Our lives, so far, had not been particularly carefree, not really, our family was a minefield and when I looked into his eyes, to share a smirk or a flinch, I knew I wasn’t the only one living in fear of being blown to bits.