On the passing of Barry Lopez

“Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience; to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of the moon and the colors of the dawn and dusk.” ― Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

I read Arctic Dreams in Norfolk or San Diego, one of those edge of an ocean Navy towns. It was an introduction to Barry Lopez. It would have to have been one of those occasions when I had a chunk of time to myself. So, Jerry was either deployed or we were still separated from one another by a whole country. Those long months in "foreign surroundings" were perfect for Lopez's work.

I was fortunate to hear Barry Lopez read, once at Fishtrap in Wallowa County and then again in Ashland at the Chautauqua Poets & Writers series. Over the years I dipped into his work or just stumbled across something that floored me. Those words will always be there. I love this quote from Love in the Time of Terror that originally was published in Orion and I "stumbled" upon via LitHub: "...is it still possible to face the gathering darkness, and say to the physical Earth, and to all its creatures, including ourselves, fiercely and without embarrassment, I love you, and to embrace fearlessly the burning world?"

Be safe, be kind, love and embrace fearlessly this burning world.