I know I commented that I was going to save this for later, but I couldn’t. This is perhaps the most poetic resignation in the history of resignations! The world you create is so fantastical it would be impossible to believe without your vivid prose that brings it to life.
The lushness of this piece, like a message from a dream someone carries with them until death, leaves me straddling the liminal, wondering how many forces are conspiring to keep us longing, growing, seeking. I love that once the door clicked shut, your character knew not to look back, “I didn’t turn, because to turn and to look was, I realised, to remove the door from my mind.” That line feels key to the mysteries of life, that somehow when we seek conformation, when we need certainty or conversely question something that has moved us, we close the very door that opened us to it in the first place. Your character instead held it inside him, like a precious stone, carried it to the surface of his consciousness, and then took real action in the world to step toward “all he has yet to see.”
Remarkable Nathan. This one is going to stay with me for a long time.
"Straddling the liminal." What a wonderful and perfect phrase.
I think this is one of those pieces where I let the words find themselves, and only after when reading it back have I found the extra meaning.
If there's a perfect summation, it's this: "Your character instead held it inside him, like a precious stone, carried it to the surface of his consciousness, and then took real action in the world to step toward “all he has yet to see.” 🤗
What a beautiful dedication. You can feel the rich warmth of her energy in your words. Simple moments like the holding of hands in water take a different aura with all the words and abstract images that surround them. Happy you found the time to finish this, Nathan, and it didn’t feel fragmented to me!
Thanks so much Kate. I'm happy, too. It feels something of a relief, but also makes me wonder how those who write novels and long serials (Ben, I'm looking at you!) sustain the energy and focus.
Finally, I had the time to re-read the last chapter , and delve into this one. “…my words just vapour, particles that joined the dewy air.”Nathan, I am lost in your world building, and it is quite wonderful. I followed down endless stairs , and I still remain kneeling on the floor in total rapture. I cannot express enough, what a brilliant job of creating this other worldly experience. Hard to explain, it is not something that is necessarily missed if you were reading a story, but once exposed to great writing , it surrounds you in layer upon layer that breathes into sentences, then it becomes an entire entity unto itself, now something I will long for in the next story I read. Then she ‘speaks to his mind’, every sentence from this communication is a story within itself. I am mesmerized. Though I was hoping for more, I am pleasantly satiated (🍦) . One of my favorite Slake stories. Maybe she was the green goddess of the moon (or moons)? And whether you realized this or not, I love that you included a little JRR Tolkien , from the character, Galadriel. I have read the Trilogy many times over the years, like all great tales and fictional worlds masterfully created, time is irrelevant , I remember it well. She uses her powers to speak with Frodo the ring bearer, with her mind. And last, I thought of these lyrics from an album I have. I remembered some of the words from many ‘moons’
ago. King Crimson 1969;
Thank you, Nathan , for a most incredible journey. I would like very much to visit again someday.
Thanks so much, Lor. Your comments send sunshine and radiance every time you write. I appreciate it so much.
Ah, Galadriel. Perhaps she was burning in my subconscious. I picked up a lovely special edition of LotR late last year and it's sitting on my bookshelf. I've been dipping in and out of it, reminding myself of Tolkien's prose and world building. I'm a big fan.
Thanks for the King Crimson link. I shall have a listen to the song.
"Who are you? What are you?" " I see you, and what you haven't yet become. I see you, and what you already are." Wonderful writing, Nathan. And I especially loved this, "...my life never having been more aligned with the beating of my heart." A fine, open-ended story, the kind of story experienced by those who partake in rituals of psilocybin or peyote ( ahem, apparently...)
Like Ben I read the first line and couldn't stop...
Nathan!! You caught me up in the ephemeral, mystical realm of Astri's garden of moons, transported me, for how long I'm still not certain, I think I've yet to return....
That paragraph beginning "I see stories in all that is living, in the way the light hits the leaves and the air ushers in change." will stay with me for days...
The whole story is a masterful dream, one I don't want to forget.
Enviable writing my friend, this shines very brightly!
"for how long I'm still not certain, I think I've yet to return" -- hehe. Love this, Susie. Thank you for being here. (As ever, I am late to so many posts, yours included!)
Nathan, this story transported me to someplace fantastical—but also very real! When I read it aloud (I *had* to read it aloud!) the imagery and music were so strong. Your words live and breathe. I felt such a delightful sense of adventure throughout—not just in the story itself, but in the feeling of what writing can do for us all. What a wonder it is when a work of love and beauty takes shape on a blank page!
.
I have so many favorite lines, but these were especially meaningful to me:
“I see all of the stories we walk beside, the ones buried and those that drift free, those that you catch and melt on your tongue, unaware of the change they impart. I see you, and what you haven't yet become. I see you, and what you already are.”
.
Incredible work--thank you for sharing the gift of it!
I know I commented that I was going to save this for later, but I couldn’t. This is perhaps the most poetic resignation in the history of resignations! The world you create is so fantastical it would be impossible to believe without your vivid prose that brings it to life.
Thank you, Ben! How wonderful that you were pulled in. :)
“To remember what you have yet to see.”
The lushness of this piece, like a message from a dream someone carries with them until death, leaves me straddling the liminal, wondering how many forces are conspiring to keep us longing, growing, seeking. I love that once the door clicked shut, your character knew not to look back, “I didn’t turn, because to turn and to look was, I realised, to remove the door from my mind.” That line feels key to the mysteries of life, that somehow when we seek conformation, when we need certainty or conversely question something that has moved us, we close the very door that opened us to it in the first place. Your character instead held it inside him, like a precious stone, carried it to the surface of his consciousness, and then took real action in the world to step toward “all he has yet to see.”
Remarkable Nathan. This one is going to stay with me for a long time.
Thank you, my friend.
"Straddling the liminal." What a wonderful and perfect phrase.
I think this is one of those pieces where I let the words find themselves, and only after when reading it back have I found the extra meaning.
If there's a perfect summation, it's this: "Your character instead held it inside him, like a precious stone, carried it to the surface of his consciousness, and then took real action in the world to step toward “all he has yet to see.” 🤗
Gorgeous Nathan. I can't skim your stories. Have to read every word. It would be annoying if it wasn't so rewarding. ❤️
Thanks so much, Shoni! 🙏
Love this line: "To my boss at the time, I gave the other flower. I sandwiched it between the pages of a book on Spanish cuisine."
Thanks, Mary. Originally, it was just "a book", and then I thought to myself that no, of course, it's a book on Spanish cuisine!
What a beautiful dedication. You can feel the rich warmth of her energy in your words. Simple moments like the holding of hands in water take a different aura with all the words and abstract images that surround them. Happy you found the time to finish this, Nathan, and it didn’t feel fragmented to me!
Thanks so much Kate. I'm happy, too. It feels something of a relief, but also makes me wonder how those who write novels and long serials (Ben, I'm looking at you!) sustain the energy and focus.
This series has been a gift. It leaves us with so many ways to interprete it. Thank you for sharing 🙏🏿😊❤️
Thanks for your kindness, Mkwawa.
You are welcome
A wonderfully poetic conclusion, Nathan. Lush, evocative prose that is such a joy to read.
🙏 thanks so much my friend.
Beautiful prose Nathan!
Thanks, Brian. 🙏
Finally, I had the time to re-read the last chapter , and delve into this one. “…my words just vapour, particles that joined the dewy air.”Nathan, I am lost in your world building, and it is quite wonderful. I followed down endless stairs , and I still remain kneeling on the floor in total rapture. I cannot express enough, what a brilliant job of creating this other worldly experience. Hard to explain, it is not something that is necessarily missed if you were reading a story, but once exposed to great writing , it surrounds you in layer upon layer that breathes into sentences, then it becomes an entire entity unto itself, now something I will long for in the next story I read. Then she ‘speaks to his mind’, every sentence from this communication is a story within itself. I am mesmerized. Though I was hoping for more, I am pleasantly satiated (🍦) . One of my favorite Slake stories. Maybe she was the green goddess of the moon (or moons)? And whether you realized this or not, I love that you included a little JRR Tolkien , from the character, Galadriel. I have read the Trilogy many times over the years, like all great tales and fictional worlds masterfully created, time is irrelevant , I remember it well. She uses her powers to speak with Frodo the ring bearer, with her mind. And last, I thought of these lyrics from an album I have. I remembered some of the words from many ‘moons’
ago. King Crimson 1969;
Thank you, Nathan , for a most incredible journey. I would like very much to visit again someday.
https://www.metalkingdom.net/lyrics-song/king-crimson-moonchild-including-%22the-dream-and-the-illusion%22-284645
Thanks so much, Lor. Your comments send sunshine and radiance every time you write. I appreciate it so much.
Ah, Galadriel. Perhaps she was burning in my subconscious. I picked up a lovely special edition of LotR late last year and it's sitting on my bookshelf. I've been dipping in and out of it, reminding myself of Tolkien's prose and world building. I'm a big fan.
Thanks for the King Crimson link. I shall have a listen to the song.
Only the true self knows and recognizes its Self. So even in its wandering the soul is clear.
Beautifully said.
This was so lovely — just a delicious read, start to finish.
Thanks Stephanie. That makes me so happy to hear.
Absolutely wonderfully mystical & poetic - I love it!
Thank you, Rose. So appreciate you being here and saying hi with a comment. :)
Simply exquisite, Nathan - the story just as magnificent a cigar as the flower... ;)
Hehe, thank you, Troy! 😊🤗
"Who are you? What are you?" " I see you, and what you haven't yet become. I see you, and what you already are." Wonderful writing, Nathan. And I especially loved this, "...my life never having been more aligned with the beating of my heart." A fine, open-ended story, the kind of story experienced by those who partake in rituals of psilocybin or peyote ( ahem, apparently...)
Thanks so much, Sharron. I guess you know by now that I lean heavily into the open-ended. :)
Like Ben I read the first line and couldn't stop...
Nathan!! You caught me up in the ephemeral, mystical realm of Astri's garden of moons, transported me, for how long I'm still not certain, I think I've yet to return....
That paragraph beginning "I see stories in all that is living, in the way the light hits the leaves and the air ushers in change." will stay with me for days...
The whole story is a masterful dream, one I don't want to forget.
Enviable writing my friend, this shines very brightly!
"for how long I'm still not certain, I think I've yet to return" -- hehe. Love this, Susie. Thank you for being here. (As ever, I am late to so many posts, yours included!)
As I am to many too Natan, end of the school year is looming, chaos reigns! No worries my friend!
Wahoo!
The end of semester is THIS WEEK for me. Just five days to go!!
I’m green with envy Nathan, here I have five long weeks!
Ouch! Well, I shall be counting them down for you! May they whiz by.
Nathan, this story transported me to someplace fantastical—but also very real! When I read it aloud (I *had* to read it aloud!) the imagery and music were so strong. Your words live and breathe. I felt such a delightful sense of adventure throughout—not just in the story itself, but in the feeling of what writing can do for us all. What a wonder it is when a work of love and beauty takes shape on a blank page!
.
I have so many favorite lines, but these were especially meaningful to me:
“I see all of the stories we walk beside, the ones buried and those that drift free, those that you catch and melt on your tongue, unaware of the change they impart. I see you, and what you haven't yet become. I see you, and what you already are.”
.
Incredible work--thank you for sharing the gift of it!
I love that you *had* to read it aloud. It makes me want to return to my brief dabbling of recording audio with pieces.
Thanks so much for being here to read it, Ann. Means a lot.