Spruce Kiss
Beth Downing Beth Downing

Spruce Kiss

So I was kissing spruce on the rugged, ancient path. Trying to find my footing with a mouth full of conifer. Deciding this was the taste of green, were it to have a flavor. With an extra hint of brine given the inescapable ocean always industrious down below. Taking in the landscape with my eyes and my mouth.

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Trickster Ocean
Beth Downing Beth Downing

Trickster Ocean

On a recent hiking trip to Newfoundland, I wondered about the trickster on that island. Walking along the easternmost knife edge of the of the North American continent, in almost the precise middle of the trip, standing atop angular rock that fell fifty feet to the cove below, it became clear: it’s the ocean.  

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The Knot That Brought Me Here
Beth Downing Beth Downing

The Knot That Brought Me Here

Her words let me dream about a place in the intervening years. It got me to buy plane tickets and say yes and put my feet on a piece of earth I wouldn't have otherwise.

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Leapfrog
Beth Downing Beth Downing

Leapfrog

I leapfrogged my own doubts. Coming back to them, passing them, hearing them breathing heavily behind me. Sometimes they got out ahead and took over. Sometimes I was the one ahead, leaving them behind for just a little bit.

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