they have just left.  It's newly dark,  only 7 something, earlier than usual.    They load themselves up…kids finding their shoes,  collecting their little screens of whatever,  their papers,  Alyssia strapping Emrie into her car seat,  the dangling musical flamingo who we call Flemie,  dangling and playing her car seat song…a sweet song, really.  Tay is sprawled out on the floor in front of the pull down "couch", bed,  where i have chosen to sleep.    As i listen to the crunch of gravel from the tires, i begin to make my bed.   I go back into the "bedroom" of this travel trailer,  which seems miles away from everything, and bring them out.

it's the same sheets,  pillow cases, quilt that i got at the animal shelter garage sale maybe 15 years ago.  Familiar.  Same  ones from New Mexico,  that street in Polvadera.  Linens.  Stuff made of 

cloth

Make the bed.

another day has spun through.  The pull down bed bordered on the West by windows and when i wake during the night i can look out and see stars by the zillions.  They are so BIG,  the stars here and so CLOSE.  More so than ever before anywhere.  I asked Alyssia if she noticed this or if it was just me and she said that she has seen this too.  Stars here,  near the edge of this continent are CLOSE.  There must be a scientific explanation for this?  I'll try at some point to find it,  know it,  but in the meantime,  I wake,  off and on.  Looking out the window.  If Tay sounds an alarm, I will get up,  put on my socks,  my pants, sweatshirt,  shoes and take the Fat Max spotlight OUT into the dark to be sure things are ok and i will look up

at the stars

that are so close they are in their own way, frightening.

 

 

 

 

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33 responses to “how it is”

  1. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Your words are like a prayer. Sleep well my friend.

    Like

  2. Laura R Avatar
    Laura R

    How do you see the stars now, compared to NM?

    Like

  3. grace Forrest Avatar

    thank you for saying this. I guess words of Telling
    are
    like a prayer, the closest to a prayer i come
    Telling
    i hope to sleep well. Often, there is an alert by Tay and i wake and let her out….wait, then, half awake half asleep for her to return, uneasy in this, but it’s the way it is

    Like

  4. Laura R Avatar
    Laura R

    It’s just that I thought they would be easier to see in NM.

    Like

  5. grace Forrest Avatar

    in N Mex they were stunning…so many but here, they are CLOSE. Large, just overhead, close. and in their closeness, frightening to me, or maybe not frightening, but very REAL, not just sparkling lights out there somewhere, but Entities

    Like

  6. grace Forrest Avatar

    no. here in N Cal , maybe it’s something about the curve of the Earth? The edge of a continent? I have no idea. But they are like you can reach up and grasp one. Hold it.

    Like

  7. Deb Avatar

    At first I thought it might have something to do with elevation but, Polvadera was 4662′ and Oroville is only 167′ so that idea makes no sense.
    I made a piece once based on a dream where I woke up and didn’t recognize the stars. They were out of position and more distant, higher, and the air was so thin. Gravity was even wrong. I woke up in a sweat.
    Your night sounds beautiful!

    Like

  8. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Sorry I missed that all is NOT well in the last post…but my wish that it might be remains.
    Once, 9000 feet above sea level in Utah the stars were like that–so close I could see the whole milky way and know I was a part of it.
    Waking in the night often, I too have that uneasy feeling, expectant and watchful.
    Again I say May all be well within and without dear Grace.

    Like

  9. Liz A Avatar

    I remember the looking at the Milky Way as a child … but I haven’t seen it in decades, so bright are the man-made lights in our world that it has faded from view
    Stars are so potent … and I looked up the word “fear” in m-w.com where I found “profound awe and reverence”

    Like

  10. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    A clear dark starry night looking up has always brought at first a feeling of fear, then a feeling of my own insignificance, then awe, at that point I study the constellations. But always I must get past that initial fear. I first remember it when I was young and was sent out to put our garbage in our burning barrel after supper, and in the winter, it was so dark and our yard so big. I used to run the whole way. That huge sky was so overwhelming.

    Like

  11. Mo Crow Avatar

    reaching out to the music of the spheres

    Like

  12. jude Avatar

    so are you alone there at night?

    Like

  13. Nancy Avatar

    Nothing so filling as a night full of stars xo

    Like

  14. Els Avatar

    ahhhhh , Grace, reaching for the stars … always GOOD !

    Like

  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    as close to a prayer as i get, i guess.

    Like

  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. Metta. I do Metta.

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes, this kind of fearful…exactly this kind

    Like

  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    i keep watching, trying to understand more. Almost a
    Full Moon again

    Like

  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    its much plainer than that during the night

    Like

  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. i thought that i had made that clear.
    i am the only person who lives here.

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    at this point, it’s a different experience
    love back….

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh, Hello, Els!
    for now i just look

    Like

  23. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Taking a trip through Mexican mountains on a bus at night, the air and the sky felt like thick black velvet wrapped around me. what a sense of wonder.

    Like

  24. Wendy@ Late StartStudio Avatar

    I know what you mean. I walk about 100 metres to the beach yet between here and there the stars seem to come down from the far-away.

    Like

  25. Patricia Avatar

    This experience, all of it, has captivated me. The dynamics. Canine. Human. Enormous stars in the mix. I wonder if there are trees in your line of vision between you and the stars? Watching and holding.

    Like

  26. Martine Bos Avatar

    Its a beautiful thought Grace, thinking of you sleeping under the starlight………..

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    “sky”
    we say sky, but really, what IS it? Sky?

    Like

  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    stars “coming down”…words, but something very real

    Like

  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    there are TREES. this is a FOREST OF TREES. a FOREST.
    i am living in a FOREST

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    that light flows from Elsewhere and Gives what it is

    Like

  31. ² Avatar
    ²

    yah … the balance between … longing and go on with how it is … learn us a lot , is’nt it ; i know

    Like

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