Winding the Clock
The key, the ratchet, and the edge just short of too far: winding a house's heartbeat by feel.
Ask the ApostateIs it wrong that I'm starting to forget their voice?
The short answer: the fading is the toll for keeping them in a living mind, not a recording. A former cleric on the saved voicemail, and the shape a person leaves that never plays back.
EssayThe Whetstone
Water, stone, and the two-coin angle a hand comes to believe: the patient restoring of an edge.
Ask the ApostateWhy do some chores feel like prayer, even if you don't believe in anything?
The short answer: the feeling isn't imported from a belief—the chore makes it. A former cleric on repetition, attention, and the prayer hidden in the washing-up.
EssayWhittling
Not making a thing but removing everything that isn't it—subtraction as the only honest move.
Ask the ApostateHow do you stop feeling guilty about something you can't take back?
The short answer: stop paying a closed account, and let the guilt change what you do next. A former cleric on the irreversible, the ink in the water, and guilt turned into care.
EssayPulling Weeds
Down at the crown where the stem meets the soil, and the small clean joy of a taproot drawn out whole.
EssayCarrying the Watering Can
Full, it rearranges the whole body—the bite of the handle, the lean, the drops you carried for nothing.
Word, when there is word.