A pair of binoculars rested on the vinyl floor between two glossy square shapes. Boots, I told myself. They were shaped to hold feet, and so they must. The boots rose into knees, the knees into khaki-covered thighs. Two hands hovered between them — pale, veined, obedient. Wrists disappeared into black wool. The fabric climbed to shoulders and then — nothing. No head. No face. Only the space where one should be. The image held, even as something in me loosened. The body remain

The other day I took a walk. Well, I got in my car and drove to the place where I like to walk: the three-mile loop near my family’s home. If you like Georgia Piedmont ecology: leaf litter; oak trees; dogwood; the occasional deer — this is the place for you. Though, be warned — the landscape is not quite the exemplar. It’s hard to keep deciduous charm where there’s a disc golf course. The trail still offers plenty of variation: scrub density, how much light reaches the ground

This May, my family and I will travel to Turkey for a week-long guided historical tour with an expert on early Christianity. The tour includes ancient sites like Sardis, Didyma, and Pergamon — all multi-layered landscapes full of art and architecture. Once our tickets were confirmed, I was considering just how many ancient sites I have had the privilege to visit. As I was reflecting on this, I felt a familiar rise in my chest. Today, I can name this feeling — turn it over and

On Monday, our family dog, Archie, was put to sleep at our neighborhood veterinarian’s office. An X-ray revealed cancer in his lungs and stomach. Made comfortable and wrapped in a blanket from home, he slipped peacefully out of this world. I am unaccustomed to the unpredictability of the swift swells of grief that have surged through me the past few days. Each rush has a unique flavor, showing me pain from new angles and casting piercing light — the kind that is almost too br