I'm sitting at my desk, working on revisions, and I look out the window in front of me.
It's not fall yet
but a fox
“let me catch sight of you again going over the wall
and before the garden is extinct and the woods are figures
guttering on a screen let my words find their own
places in the silence after the animals”
from “Vixen” by W. S. Merwin
Fantastic! Live foxes are a good omen!
They are? Is there a story there?
Matt just posted a link on Facebook that answers my question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inari_%28mythology%29
This is very cool. I think it’s the fourth time I’ve seen a fox in the last couple of months and always when writing–maybe the foxes are bringing the words… : )
It’s a very cute one. He looks young.
Sue, he did to me too. The first time I saw him, he was down at the swing set with two sleeker-looking foxes with longer tails.
That is so crazy amazing! My kids would have loved to see something like that! The only foxes around here are in the zoo or at the casinos, lol.
Terresa, yeah I grew up in Atlanta so I feel like I’m living in a zoo!
Lovely. Last month there was one hanging out in my ex-wife’s neighbourhood about a quarter of a mile away–redder than yours. Yours is a curious and rather beautiful colour.
d
Thanks, Doug. One of my other photos of him with his neck stretched out shows a better shot of the patch of red there. If he is young, maybe he will turn redder as he gets older.
Cynthia, I also just discovered the “I Like This Post” button at the bottom of your post. Have you used this yet?
d
Doug, I just discovered the LIKE button early last week. I’m not exactly sure when it first appeared on wordpress.com blogs. I added (in fine print) a short notice of its presence to the bottom of the post that day. I had intended to put that notice on all posts for a while. Thanks for the reminder.
That same day, I used it at a couple of other blogs, but at the moment it’s obviously hard for me to remember it’s there.
I heard you have a particularly good post up on writing. I’m looking forward to reading it and catching up on your posts.
A friend just posted this link on Facebook in honor of the fox sighting–an amazing poem by W. S. Merwin, “Vixen” at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=237370
I especially love these last four lines:
let me catch sight of you again going over the wall
and before the garden is extinct and the woods are figures
guttering on a screen let my words find their own
places in the silence after the animals
I may add this to the post.
Wow, a fox! I’d take her as a good omen. It makes me think of Edinburgh by Alexander Chee, which I’m reading slowly and appreciating but didn’t take on vacation. It’s not really a beach book. Thanks for the recommendation.
There is a vixen raising her family on my street in Maine, but I haven’t seen her yet. Maybe that’s because my office windows look at my driveway and deck.
Sarah, I can’t believe I didn’t think of Edinburgh too. “This is a fox story. Oh how a fox can be a boy.” Thanks for the association.
Enjoy your vacation.
Is this common, Cynthia?
I don’t think so, but he was out playing in the yard again today. Whenever he hears a noise, he takes off running.