mystery duckling

when i’m not writing through my layers of issues
creating art
or cooking & chasing my minions around
i am tromping around in work boots
or barefoot
on an unmowed lawn
in rural illinois
i grew up here
i used to look to the horizon as i dreamed of running away
and i did leave
i was gone for almost thirty years
but now i’m back
with the prairie wind & the perfect sky
and my wild lawn full of farm creatures

i found this duckling this morning. she was somewhere she shouldn’t have been…and i cannot figure out how she got there. she was barely alive. i did my morning chores with one hand so i could hold her & warm her up in the other.

then i took this picture to show someone my mystery duckling.

looking at the picture…i realized just how much of the story of my life i had captured in one photograph. i am terrible at photography. i was just trying to get the duckling’s good side. it’s funny. there are so many stories here.

this photograph made me happy.