8755 feet

track 9, “a waltz in the woods”

[image designed by Todd Reynolds, photography Kim Harper]

I called it flea market first

just so I wouldn’t forget it

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on weekends in the summer brighton gets these vendors

knives vinyl records cutting boards freeze dried skittles clothing

the quirkiest ragtag group selling duck fat and shovels

my kids and I would hike the canyon first

then find the animals then watch the colors change

some of the best memories of my life

happened

at 8755 feet above the ocean

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I’m usually the one people call

when they’re tired of holding on to it all on their own

I’ve been on both sides of that

nature is the place I go

when there’s no one to call

and I don’t want to be available

that feeling on beaches and mountain lakes

dirt trails on a mountain bike

the top of Mauna Kea

snow and fire

it’s not one specific part of the wild that’s in charge here

it’s the whole thing

---

trees

and mountains and rivers

they way predate us

I think about this

how conscious a tree is

what it would describe

if it could

it can’t speak

but it lives

and grows

and creates

and gives

nature just shares so much

to all of us

---

we don’t exist without it

---

track 9 is called a waltz in the woods

and it used to be called flea market

that felt right at first

and then it felt bigger than that

---

before I die I just wanted to say

spend time in nature

to feel it

to see it

just be there listen

hear what it wants you to know