Contributor: Kyle Heger

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As I pass these wonders —
the startling white of an
egret in suspended animation,
the electric blue of a Ceanothus
vibrating against a bank of green,
the flash of a blackbird's epaulet,
gifts of a kind providence — I
resist the urge to linger, afraid
that my presence here will abuse
these signs of trust, sending them
back to nothingness, or, worse,
turning them into caricatures or
their own opposites.


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