I have wanted to write about the Stillaguamish River (known affectionately as the Stilly) and the towns of Oso and Darrington. But like the tons of mud that slid down a mountain side nearly two weeks ago, words are slippery and elusive. There are so many words, so much I could say, that like that clay, they have stuck themselves together and lodged in my throat and fingers.
It is easy to sit in judgement of others, to overlay our beliefs about how the world works onto their reality...What if we stopped seeing our way of life as a right and instead understood our days as filled with privilege?
The following is my Goddard MFA graduate reading given July 2013 in Port Townsend, Wa. This is an excerpt from my memoir These Are Not Secrets, the story of a young poverty-stricken mother who makes a reckless and horrific bargain with a dangerous man to gain security for her children. How she survives and is eventually … Continue reading The Day Every Girl Dreams Of – Reading
(This post is a copy of a correspondence between a friend and I about living with long-term illness/pain) “Do you think things happen for a reason? Or are we just creatures, vulnerable to the world?” Dear Friend, I have been thinking deeply about this question you sent me. I know you didn’t mean for … Continue reading “Do you think things happen for a reason? Or are we just creatures, vulnerable to the world?”
Robyn Lynn 