Feather

I blew on you
And it gave you lift
And you rose
I had sent you flying
And you floated
And twisted
And rocked
Back and forth
Soon to be caught up
In another breeze
A current
A channel
From somewhere
Elsewhere
Perhaps from the winter
Turning violently into spring
Or a butterfly
The flapping of its distant wings
No matter now
For what I once held
Delicately in my hand
Is now beyond
My outstretched grasp
And I watch
As you gently leave
My breath had lifted you up
Let you go
And set you free.

The Only Answer

There are two essential questions that drive every human being:

Is this all I am?

Is this all there is?

The most feared answer to both of those questions — the one we refuse to accept:

Yes.

The answer we want to believe and that drives us to push harder, dig deeper, keep searching, and achieve things once believed impossible. The answer that has led to every discovery and breakthrough. The one that is at the center of every faith. The one that makes us human:

No.

Items Of Interest #14

As I traversed the vast valley of information this past week, here are the destinations I found worthy of sending you this collection of postcards from:

  • Like my friend Andy at Woodclinched (which is a great pencil and paper related blog, by the way), I too am wondering if the Barton Fig notebook is worth the hype. This notebook’s life — like so many products these days — began as a highly successful Kickstarter project. They are now available for sale to the public. So, I have ordered one to see. Perhaps I’ll do a brief review here once it comes.

  • Of course, I’m sure it can’t out do the holy grail of paper notebooks, The Tomoe River Paper Journal

  • I just received a cover for my Hobonichi Techo journal made by One Star Leather Goods and I am blown away by it’s fit, quality, and attention to detail. The products they make are just spectacular. All hand cut and stitched. Because of this, they are currently on hold in taking new orders so that they can catch up with demand. A good problem to have and a sure sign that it is worth waiting for. I’m absolutely smitten with mine.

  • Now that I have revealed just how deep my paper problem runs, it should come as no surprise that I’m absolutely smitten with the idea of Harlequin Creature. It’s a zine where every copy is individually hand-typed by volunteers. The remainder of this will now be hand typed as the fingers of the other hand hover over the Buy Now button…

  • Joshua Ginter has a nice review of the Hellbrand Field Notes Cover I mentioned in an interview as part of Chris Gonzoles Artifacts series. If you are looking for a nice cover to carry your Field Notes style notebook in, this is the one you want…

  • In case you have not noticed I’m a sucker for leather covers of all sorts. I’m probably carrying half a cow on me at any given moment.

  • Here is a lovely essay on keeping a journal and being OK with recording your life offline. I love this: “All you need is sentence, a word, a thought, and suddenly you remember who you actually were.”

  • I’m a bit more obsessed with paper related stuff than normal as of late. OK, fine, here is one non-paper related link…

  • My little girl only recently became obsessed with Superheroes. We actually just watched The Incredibles today. I have not seen it since it’s theatrical release. So, learning these cool background facts about the Pixar hit comes at a very opportune time. So cool!

Go out and make it a great day.