Field Notes

"The nurse said: rest is what they take from us first. Then the soil. Then the language."

"Tailings ponds catch the sky. Children learn to name the colors of the water before the names of the metals."

"An afternoon of doing nothing in particular, which turned out to be a great deal."

"We drew a map of soft infrastructures: a kitchen, a hammock, a phone tree, a long pause."

"He spoke of his father's hands, and of the copper that wore them down. He spoke softly. The recorder kept running."

"The bees are returning. We do not know why. We are careful not to ask too loudly."

"An elder taught us a lullaby for tired land. We sang it badly. She laughed and said: that's how it begins."

"A shared document where strangers leave each other permission to stop."