escarpment

encountering a fellow writer

...at the Fort Mason Community Garden, where I had a chance encounter with an elderly gentlewoman yesterday noon; I'd gone there to sit zazen, but instead spent it chatting with her for a good hour or so.

She was sitting in the garden with camera and binoculars, looking at birds and butterflies, as I walked past her and struck up a conversation, me asking first what she was taking photos of (birds, butterflies) and she asking me about the Xuanzang bio I was schlepping.

It was a remarkable thing... these were some of the names we shared, and I knew right away that poet Sally Doyle was one of my tribe ::chuckle::

SHE:

ME:

...among others. Of course I knew all the writers she mentioned — and she knew the ones I did! In fact she has read all of them, and she encountered Pessoa's work while she and her husband Kim were in Portugal some years ago. And Sally shared me the name of an American novelist she has been reading lately, that I didn't know, but will definitely look up: Samantha Hunt.

It was that kind of conversation. She's in her '70s now, retired from teaching and non-profit work; she reminded me of my dear mentor Flossie Lewis (who turned 100 this year, and lives in Piedmont Gardens in Oakland — I should go visit her soon).

It was a conversation clearly to both our delight. She told me about her husband and daughter (who's 6 months pregnant; this will be Sally and Tim's first grandchild), and that she and Tim are heading to Joshua Tree Monument Nat'l. Park next week, for a week's sojourn there. Sally and I discussed what reading she should bring, if any.

They live in a North Beach apartment, and she said I should definitely come over for dinner. We parted with a warm hug.

Oh, and the best part about getting to know Sally? Her book of poetry that she's published, titled My House is Black Feathers. And she mentioned this to me when I noted the parliament of crows loud above us in the eucalypti. And boy was she intrigued when I told her of Onyx and Obsidian at the corner tree of Fort Mason, by Bay and Van Ness. ::chuckle:: (Of course, corvids are her totem animal; I'm definitely going to get her book.)

[ Sally and me at the FMCG... ]