I really loved Ezeekat’s short video about the “creepy-cozy” genre (and kind review of Strange Animals). Watch it here.
The tadpole I’ve been raising for months in an aquarium next to my computer monitor suddenly has an arm this morning! Just one arm. But I can see the other will be along shortly. The process has been:
“Wow, this looks nothing like a frog. Clumsy little swamp-comma.”
“Hey, I think he’s changing shape… less ball-with-a-tail now.”
“Ok, definitely frog-shaped now.”
“You grew an arm overnight!?”
Our guest is shifting from eating duckweed and algae wafers to invertebrates, and very soon we’ll return him to his pond. But it’s been really incredible to watch this metamorphosis. It’s been a reminder that there are levels of knowing. Yes, I knew tadpoles become frogs, but I had never closely watched the process for months. As ever, for the cost of a little attention, nature will fill your life with wonder.
Do you ever revisit a piece of media from your childhood and think, “oh, this shaped me in ways I never fully considered?” I did that this week with the show Fraggle Rock. The show is basically subterranean cryptids meeting other cryptids and having adventures. And check out this song from season 5 episode 7, “Gone, But Not Forgotten.” It’s about how our lives are akin to the water cycle:
Feel it coming, feel it going,
In the river, in the rain or in the sky.
One day it's a tear drop in your eye.
And then I suddenly appeared,
And now I seem to be at home in earth and air.
Look beneath your boots and I'll be there.
You've got to leave to stay.
We'll meet again someday,
I love this song and you can listen here. Between Fraggle Rock and the various nature shows I watched obsessively (especially Wild America), it’s not hard for me to pick-out foundational pieces of my lifelong interests.
Consider the role of endings in change and cycles. Choose an example of something ending and write about the new pathways that open as a result. A dandelion tossed into the compost. A fallen tree becoming a home for carpenter ants. A chapter of your life set aside to make room for new growth or interests.
When writing about the productive side of loss, I think the trick is to also be honest about grief. It’s often a matter of perspective. Thanks to imagination, we can try on many perspectives and still come home to honest acceptance of whatever we’re feeling.
Bonus for Supporters: A Poem (find me on Substack or Patreon to unlock)
