the early fifties are a pretty good time to be alive. i just turned 52, and sure, i am curling a bit at the edges of my petals. but give me some good light, and you can still tell what i looked like when i was freshly picked.

calla lily

i discovered this beautiful wilson’s warbler at the base of one of the windows outside the donald judd mill aluminum collection in marfa texas. i know, somewhere in the deep rational part of my brain, that this poor migratory creature, unused to the deceptiveness of clear glass, simply flew into the side of the building at full speed. but i had just watched the sunlight change color and character for the last hour in the almost mirrored surface of judd’s aluminum cubes. and i’m choosing to believe that this warbler, passing through on its way from central america to canada, was trying to see the beauty of itself reflected in, and made briefly part of, a piece of great american art.

wilson’s warbler

marfa, texas