Footnotes to a Conversation, August 7, 2023

I suspect that many of you are like me and worry about the future. I found this poem comforting and hope you will too.

Future, Jacqueline Suskin

I can’t see my future clearly.

It’s a wash of color and light.

Maybe a glimpse of a house

with wood floors, the death

of a parent, a dog, a cat, a love,

but nothing certain. I like its fog.

Inevitably something will happen, pieces

will fall into place if I keep breathing

and I’ll eat, I’ll work, I’ll learn

and know and forget. There’ll be

another bowl full of berries, a hot cup

of tea, additional travel and sorrow.

There’ll be a clean pair of pants,

the sun’s good glow, a cut and blood,

a hole to dig, a bath to take, a mistake to mend.

What lies ahead is a promise

standing in shadow, one second

pasted to the next. I don’t need to call it

by name. A riddle ensues, a song of guessing,

a vow of risk. The road becomes itself

single stone after single stone

made of limitless possibility,

endless awe.

[The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy, ed. James Crews]

The Invisible Wife

Did you know George Orwell had a wife, let alone know what a vital role she played in his life? It’s frightening how easily men erase women from their stories and forget all the ways in which women contributed to their success. As newlyweds, Eileen O’Shaughnessy and George Orwell lived in a remote cottage with no electricity, one tap, and an outhouse. It was a happy, productive time for George. Of course, it helped that “Eileen was there, working, dealing with his correspondence, organising their social lives, doing all the shopping (involving a bus ride to a village three miles away) and much of the cleaning (there is, intermittently, a ‘char’), tackling the occasional flood, the cesspit, the house, the garden, his illnesses, the chickens, the goat and the visitors.” They both engaged in the Spanish Civil War and it was Eileen who cared for George when he got shot, saved his manuscript (which she’d been typing), hid their passports during a raid, and got the visas they needed to leave Spain. I’m definitely interested in learning more by reading Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder. [The Guardian]

Female Birds

On a similar theme, it’s time for scientists and birders to pay more attention to female birds. Their survival risks and habitat needs are not always the same as those of males. [Smithsonian Magazine]

Stand Up Straight!

I’ve always been embarrassed because I slouched and wondered whether it was to blame for my back problems. Maybe not, according to recent research that reminds us our spine is curved like an S. So what does make a difference, and how can we try and avoid back problems? “Researchers have found a link between people who don’t move much between different sitting postures over the course of a day and back pain. The idea seems to be that there is no one ideal posture, but that our bodies do best when they’re regularly moving between different postures, straining and working different muscles.” [The Guardian]

Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.

If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.