three trains of thought

There is only one [t] in the title of this post.

I live in a neighborhood full of trees. For the past three years of my life, I’ve been surrounded by pavement and brick. I forgot what it is like to be surrounded by living things. Squirrels and birds and bugs and raccoons. Just today I was outside on the porch and was nearly deafened by the creaking croaking cawing squealing chirping of a flock of birds roosting in the tree across the street. It was cloudy, and each bird appeared against the gray sheet like a smudge of ink. They seemed to melt into the tree limbs as if they lacked substance, becoming for a moment a part of the wooden giant. They kept up the din and within seconds another flock of birds joined them and set to calling. Another flock swooped in from the West, flitting around the Central Baptist College bell tower. Another from the South, winging over my head. I watched at least a dozen separate flocks of birds congregate in the tree across Simms, all of them sooty fingerprints strobing across the sky. The Earth, if you have forgotten, is unequivocally vibrant and alive.

I have a $25 dollar gift card to the iTunes Music Store. What should I buy?

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a prayer to the outer Jovian planets »