I was up late in the middle of the night once again, taking my insomniac dog out. I gazed at the patterns of birch shadow that crossed the deep snow behind our house while I waited. And to my delight, I was reacquainted with an old winter friend that I hadn’t seen since last year.
This has been a magical day for me. Jan 24, so I’m late for this gathering. I chose magical in that I started not knowing of you and your work. Then I came to learn of your word connections with Samantha Clark and offered my admiration of her genius. Proof! I quickly selected this post from earlier this month and here I am. Foxes, and the overall knowing of the interconnected world I term Great Spirit is my North Star. Yes, magical.
What a beautiful comment to find! Thank you so much for reading--I love thinking of the interconnected world in that way--just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing that. 💜🙏
Thank you, this piece was deep. My favourite part was this one;
"Words do have power—by their very nature, their very meaning. Words break bones and heads and hearts. They arose from our breath, from our bodies. It’s why words cause shame and anguish unlike any physical injury—because they are tied to our bodies, whether walking across snow or in script on a page. While many words seem to live in an abstracted world, they are still ultimately tethered in the body."
Now is breeding time for foxes and coyotes. Around our woods the foxes are calling, screeching really. We have an active den less than 200 yards from our home. I love following their tracks in the snow. At times they have led to a scattering of feathers or tuffs of fur.
i love that! and will read more of your post but i started to read and you quoted Tyson Yunkaporta and I just love his work. I actually write about it more a few weeks ago! thanks so much for reading. 💜
David Abram -- the writer who saved my PhD project by outlining a philosophical geneology I could use to argue the that world does have meaning, and is a fit subject of literature, to a committee full of dedicated postmodern/poststructualists. Sigh.
Freya? Have you read Debra Magpie Earling's "Lost Journals of Sacajawea" yet? The character of Bear plays a major part, under not-Bear names. It's a masterpiece of using indigenous storytelling to undermine a foundational myth of American colonialism (and beautiful! a great read. I resisted it because the sentimental Sacajawea stuff is thick on the ground here).
Gorgeous piece, and I envy you a dog that won't immediately take off into the night, chasing the fox!
Charlotte--wow, Abram was your advisor? Or is he a colleague? So cool. I really love that book and how he thinks. Christian Wiman's recent memoir mentioned his book and how brilliant it is and I was like yeah it is, but I rarely find it referenced...
I just received Earling's Lost Journals and cannot wait to read it, even more so now. And I know what you mean about the sentimentalizing of her story--I think I had the same first impulse when I learned of the book.
Thanks so much for reading--and as for the dog, he was hindered by a deck railing, otherwise he for sure would have been after the fox. :) 🦊
Oh god no -- I wish Abram had been on my committee. His book came out just as I was contemplating dropping out, because I couldn't figure out how to reconcile ecocrit/ecofeminism with postmodern/structuralism in a department where that was the remit. Abram's book gave me a way to say "no, instead of turning right at Sassure to Derrida, we can turn left to Husserl and Merleau-Ponty." Which saved the day.
Funny, I complained SO MUCH about Theory in grad school, but now I'm turning back to a lot of it -- especially critics like Haraway and Tsing, and Karen Barad who comes out of the physics universe -- it's one reason I wanted to draw a line under the Livingsmall project as I move toward the Getting Dirty project -- because I want to talk a little more about theoretical underpinnings.
I'll be curious to hear what you think about the Earling. I think it's astonishing -- you can clearly see her nod to Jim Welch, who she knew well for decades, in the ways that like Fools Crow, it's narrated from inside the Indigenous perspective.
And I love "coming through" instead of "hey Bear"! I'm going to start using that. It's shaping up to be a real framing device theme in the memoir that's finally taking shape -- what it means to live in a place where you really need to reckon with other animals who could do you harm.
ha that's funny--but I totally get the theory crap and finding different routes through it all. I love that--and was curious about what other people say in bear country--I love that you can use 'coming through' now too and share it with others. 💜
This post informs a part of me I am already aware of but keep forgetting and thus need reminding from time to time - the power of language, the movements of spirits of nature in relation to all other elements around them. Ohh what beauty does your writing encompass Freya! What joy as each word falls one after another like a poem! Like a rhythm in a strangely familiar tune. I love everything about this piece as do I love the workings of your mind. I am so glad that your poignant voice reverberates and is clearly heard and loved through the darkness of this messed up world.
And the red fox sneaking on the white snow is too much cuteness for my heart! 🦊
This is an incredible piece packed full of important and powerful, yet somehow also gentle, reminders. Did I get to the end and enthusiastically say “hell yes she did!” to my screen? Hell yes I did. 😜💜
"And with barely awake eyes, I watched as the fox moved in every way but linearly, moving across the snow—first taken aback by our presence, then returning to shapeshift across the snow. Snaking across the back, ottering upside down, squirreling into a circle, only to take off again slowly in a different direction, fully made of shadow."
I have felt a kinship to foxes since I was a child. I have a little red one tattooed on my arm. I love that writing may have been inspired by animal tracks. I enjoy "reading" the prints they make in the sandy soil here. Usually a squirrel or raccoon, but once I tracked a beaver print as it stepped out of a creek. They tell us stories.
This has been a magical day for me. Jan 24, so I’m late for this gathering. I chose magical in that I started not knowing of you and your work. Then I came to learn of your word connections with Samantha Clark and offered my admiration of her genius. Proof! I quickly selected this post from earlier this month and here I am. Foxes, and the overall knowing of the interconnected world I term Great Spirit is my North Star. Yes, magical.
What a beautiful comment to find! Thank you so much for reading--I love thinking of the interconnected world in that way--just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing that. 💜🙏
Thank you, this piece was deep. My favourite part was this one;
"Words do have power—by their very nature, their very meaning. Words break bones and heads and hearts. They arose from our breath, from our bodies. It’s why words cause shame and anguish unlike any physical injury—because they are tied to our bodies, whether walking across snow or in script on a page. While many words seem to live in an abstracted world, they are still ultimately tethered in the body."
💜🙏
Now is breeding time for foxes and coyotes. Around our woods the foxes are calling, screeching really. We have an active den less than 200 yards from our home. I love following their tracks in the snow. At times they have led to a scattering of feathers or tuffs of fur.
Absolute magic! Thank you.😊
thank you! 💜🙏
I love this piece as one animal lover to another! Thank you!
Thanks so much! 💜🦊
You’re very welcome! ✍️💙
This is such a beautifully powerful piece. Your writing and compassion is astounding. ❤️
that means so much-- 💜 🙏
beautiful article.
I tried to convey something similar about “naming around” in my post here, but i loved your take
https://open.substack.com/pub/fromtheblue/p/a-remembrance-of-relatedness?r=1vxnr9&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
i love that! and will read more of your post but i started to read and you quoted Tyson Yunkaporta and I just love his work. I actually write about it more a few weeks ago! thanks so much for reading. 💜
I think I've fallen in love with your fifth footnote, such a beautiful sentence.
"In the case of my visiting friend, their steps and gaze happened to turn toward me, and now their presence is here among my words, shared with you."
💜 🙏
David Abram -- the writer who saved my PhD project by outlining a philosophical geneology I could use to argue the that world does have meaning, and is a fit subject of literature, to a committee full of dedicated postmodern/poststructualists. Sigh.
Freya? Have you read Debra Magpie Earling's "Lost Journals of Sacajawea" yet? The character of Bear plays a major part, under not-Bear names. It's a masterpiece of using indigenous storytelling to undermine a foundational myth of American colonialism (and beautiful! a great read. I resisted it because the sentimental Sacajawea stuff is thick on the ground here).
Gorgeous piece, and I envy you a dog that won't immediately take off into the night, chasing the fox!
Charlotte--wow, Abram was your advisor? Or is he a colleague? So cool. I really love that book and how he thinks. Christian Wiman's recent memoir mentioned his book and how brilliant it is and I was like yeah it is, but I rarely find it referenced...
I just received Earling's Lost Journals and cannot wait to read it, even more so now. And I know what you mean about the sentimentalizing of her story--I think I had the same first impulse when I learned of the book.
Thanks so much for reading--and as for the dog, he was hindered by a deck railing, otherwise he for sure would have been after the fox. :) 🦊
Oh god no -- I wish Abram had been on my committee. His book came out just as I was contemplating dropping out, because I couldn't figure out how to reconcile ecocrit/ecofeminism with postmodern/structuralism in a department where that was the remit. Abram's book gave me a way to say "no, instead of turning right at Sassure to Derrida, we can turn left to Husserl and Merleau-Ponty." Which saved the day.
Funny, I complained SO MUCH about Theory in grad school, but now I'm turning back to a lot of it -- especially critics like Haraway and Tsing, and Karen Barad who comes out of the physics universe -- it's one reason I wanted to draw a line under the Livingsmall project as I move toward the Getting Dirty project -- because I want to talk a little more about theoretical underpinnings.
I'll be curious to hear what you think about the Earling. I think it's astonishing -- you can clearly see her nod to Jim Welch, who she knew well for decades, in the ways that like Fools Crow, it's narrated from inside the Indigenous perspective.
And I love "coming through" instead of "hey Bear"! I'm going to start using that. It's shaping up to be a real framing device theme in the memoir that's finally taking shape -- what it means to live in a place where you really need to reckon with other animals who could do you harm.
ha that's funny--but I totally get the theory crap and finding different routes through it all. I love that--and was curious about what other people say in bear country--I love that you can use 'coming through' now too and share it with others. 💜
Absolute GOLD, Freya!!! Thank you so much for this!
Thank you Roxy! 💜🙏
Beautiful and powerful.
💜🙏
This post informs a part of me I am already aware of but keep forgetting and thus need reminding from time to time - the power of language, the movements of spirits of nature in relation to all other elements around them. Ohh what beauty does your writing encompass Freya! What joy as each word falls one after another like a poem! Like a rhythm in a strangely familiar tune. I love everything about this piece as do I love the workings of your mind. I am so glad that your poignant voice reverberates and is clearly heard and loved through the darkness of this messed up world.
And the red fox sneaking on the white snow is too much cuteness for my heart! 🦊
Swarna, this means so much to me--thank you firefly friend forever. And I agree about the cuteness--I just adore them. 💜🦊
🥰
This is an incredible piece packed full of important and powerful, yet somehow also gentle, reminders. Did I get to the end and enthusiastically say “hell yes she did!” to my screen? Hell yes I did. 😜💜
Thanks so much-and hell yeah she did!! She is such magic. ✨
Beautiful. Made me think of Ted Hughes’ poem ‘The Thought-Fox’ on writing.
yes! Both you and Jeffrey connected that and I love it, because it came to mind for me as well as I thought of the secretive fox. 💜
"And with barely awake eyes, I watched as the fox moved in every way but linearly, moving across the snow—first taken aback by our presence, then returning to shapeshift across the snow. Snaking across the back, ottering upside down, squirreling into a circle, only to take off again slowly in a different direction, fully made of shadow."
Beautiful writing and an inspiring post. It put me in mind of Ted Hughes' poem The Thought Fox: https://poetryarchive.org/poem/thought-fox/
And I agree about the perils of careless language.
Thank you so much--and I adore that Hughes poem--and I too was thinking of it as I wrote. I love that you connected it. 💜
I have felt a kinship to foxes since I was a child. I have a little red one tattooed on my arm. I love that writing may have been inspired by animal tracks. I enjoy "reading" the prints they make in the sandy soil here. Usually a squirrel or raccoon, but once I tracked a beaver print as it stepped out of a creek. They tell us stories.
I love that! And yes--they really do tell stories, I love finding tracks and think about what goes on around us while we are indoors, asleep. 💜🐾