A Beautiful Excuse (for Heather)

Much of the reason I don't write and photograph at the level I used to is that it becomes too all-consuming and all the rest of the world falls away while I'm in the process. I just don't have that kind of time. There are only so many hours in a day and ten minutes is barely enough time to get the boat in the water. I have whole rivers to run with steep, high canyon (albeit stunningly beautiful) walls with no place to get out of the boat once I start down the river of x, y, or z poem or photograph. Put a slightly different way, each poem, each photograph, for me, is an ocean to cross -- the pure physics of crossing means leaving everything else on shore. For me it's a choice between living in the world or interpreting it. As husband and father I choose the former. It's really as simple as that.