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the sun glittering, the sun spilling

3/23/2025

"At night, my hair tells my pillow about lake weeds. My eyes whisper image -- their closed lids a tracery of the sun glittering, the sun spilling geometric designs across the canvas of lake. We dream in new languages."

From Ishkode: Of Fires, Kimberly Blaeser, in Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, eds. Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent

a word I rarely use

3/22/2025

"When you first came to my house, we sat on the porch, and at twilight, the fireflies emerged from the woods, and their lights twinkled -- a word I rarely use -- and you said you'd never seen them before."

From Fireflies, Charles Baxter, in Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, eds. Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent

a two-breath sequence

3/21/2025

"Birds have incredibly efficient respiratory systems. Their air sacs act as bellows to move air into and through the lungs and then into another set of air sacs, a circuit that requires a two-breath sequence. The result is that air spends more time in the lungs."

From Air, Lucy Spelman, in Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, eds. Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent

but of course

3/20/2025

"But of course all living creatures worldwide share the same six basic needs.
Air, food, water, shelter, room to move, and each other.
Each--and every--other."

From Six Basic Needs, Susan Tacent, in Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, eds. Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent

speak to the moment

3/19/2025

"This is not to say that we must jettison the wonder beyond words that, say, a forest of songbirds instills in us, but literature that aspires to speak to the moment must no longer neglect the science that articulates the problems, as well as the solutions, to the decline of this forest of songbirds."

From What Humans Owe Animals, Christopher Kondrich, in Creature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation, eds. Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent

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the sun glittering, the sun spilling

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