thick dark clouds bubbling at the southern horizon all day, but a desert winter light warmed us as we sat on the back porch with our breakfast: eggs and bacon, pancakes with mango-blackberry compote, cantalope and strawberries, coffee and kahlua. we were talking about how we could edit a local billboard featuring an annoying SUV ad, when one bird out of the chorus that had been chirping at us all morning decided to distinguish himself. the song rose above the others, all melody and early spring, and we fell silent to listen, smiling.


i am gathering my small, sweet moments. i think of them as kin to the local eggs i bought last week: softly rounded and dusted with pale color, peach and gold and the blue of veins under the skin. and inside, the deep sun of promise.