I’ve just told my audience at the book reading
that it is not the “burning bush or the rainbow” that mysteriously write the
words onto the page—though either might be the holy inspiration that gets our
fingers moving across keyboard or paper.
But, rather, it is the steadfast showing up—to
our lives, our work, our relationships, our stories—that moves us through our
projects. Ultimately, we persist in writing and keep the faith. The first
resembles effort, tenacity, perspiration; the latter is fed by moments of awe,
or the sheer desperation that we simply have
to finish and so we will.
* * *
They arrive in great big fat ribbons, a
glistening bow enfolding the gift of mountain ridge and treetops.
They
span a vast landscape tying together the unlikely triplets of skyscraper,
interstate, cultivated field—born into one transient family by the
miracle-convergence of light and moisture.
Or
they appear vaguely in mist, an apparition of color: there you see it, then you
don’t.
sea to cloud
filling the negative space between limbs
in the rush of a sunlit waterfall
bisected by power lines
circular, atmospheric, inside which the shadow of
the airplane floats
ringing the moon
a slash across the sky
arcing wide and wild
rarely, horizon to horizon—geographical pinpoint
of the pot of gold but a daydream of the beholder
Sometimes they are elusive, or simply on vacation
someplace else.
* * *
But then I saw one. A real live
rainbow. A forgotten co-traveler since wintertime’s sunlessness set in. The thing I had just spoken aloud to my audience appeared in front of me.
I watched as one, then
another, then a whole prismatic ballet of colordances appeared—infinitely
varied in shape, size, step, and tune—as we drove our three hundred miles back
up the highway to our own home place.
I realized that right now it is “rainbow season.”
marking the interstices between winters and
springs, summers and falls, springs and summers, falls and winters
marker of wind, or wind the foreshadowing of
rainbow potential; I’m not sure which
marking the transition of temperatures
marking inspiration across the sky
Rainbows mark the sacred ecotone between Earth and
firmament.
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
