Writing

Wordless.

Stage lights sparkling on my skin

descending down steps for performers

for the people before me

people who take great joy in what we do.

A day of rehearsal

listening

Winter caught my Christmas lights 

and froze them into icicles— 

now even the cold knows how to shine. 

Feeling lost.

Feeling down.

I have yet to feel the warmth of the sun.

I sit, and I stay, alone, away from everyone.

I feel isolated.

I feel afraid.

This world we carry on our backs gets heavy sometimes 

our arms ache as we stare at the path ahead, 

a path we can't see an end to

pieces fall off and we wonder if they were important

Japan, 1863. Across the globe, the civil war rages.

I made the long walk

Across the plains,

through the village path

under the stars.

At long last, I came to the monastery

On April 1, 2025, the 2024 Jasper wildfire was finally declared extinguished by Parks Canada, marking an end to the nine-month-long struggle against Jasper National Park’s largest wildfire in more than a century.