“grappling with some small understanding of this place, this time, we're in" my poem "In a BishopsWood Clearing”

“The children walk away from me, flick flickety off at a tangent between thin blotched beech trunks, then turn like yo-yos at the end of their strings and come back to me" from the poem "In a BishopsWood Clearing”

“I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.”

“and for the first time in my life I understand the end of that poem. And I never wanted to. You have to believe me.”

“There are a number of paths that lead to this place. I have been avoiding them for some small time, now.”

“We're told that the Protectosphere is clear, but Grandma always said that the sky's not as clear as it was when she was a little girl. She said the real sky is endless. I never understood endless. Everything in my life had limits. But tonight in this darkness, I'm sure I can see real stars. And tonight I almost understand a place without end. I'm in an endless night with no job, no friends, and no future.”