In Miami yesterday I was reminded that among the many things I love about the city is the fact that it is one of the few in the U.S. where I can frequently feel tall.
The other day I saw someone working on an Apple laptop that had a drawing of Magritte around the logo.
I'm off on a little Southern road trip - see you back here on the 14th.
This interview with me just appeared on Advice to Writers: http://www.advicetowriters.com/interviews/2015/9/29/thomas-swick.html
A little after nine last night I walked down to the river. As I neared the last boat docked on the canal, a bird noisily took flight. A short while later, a woman came walking her dog.
"There's usually a night heron here," she said.
"It was here," I said. "I scared it away."
"It's here every night. It sits on that line and gets fish. See them all? They're attracted to the light." And, looking in the water, I saw about a dozen small fish flittering just beneath the surface.
I returned home and went out again after ten. The night was hot - my glasses sometimes steamed up - and perfectly still. It seemed very quiet until I noticed the thrum of cars on Davie Boulevard. The water was high, a smooth black highway reflecting lights. On the other side, a sailboat sat docked in front of three tall palm trees - its mast reaching up to the fronds - in a scene right off of a vintage postcard.
I took a seat by the swimming pool, looking up at the disappearing moon. I was all by myself. I heard a sound and, turning in my chair, saw a late-night paddleboarder heading down river. A man closed the curtains of his ground-floor condo and turned off the lights. A few other units went dark. Unprompted, two lines from Nights in White Satin entered my head:
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless toil is spent.
Love the magazines that summarily reject you and then send you mass emails extolling the articles in their new issues that they accepted over yours.
"I don't want to like this Pope more than John Paul II," my Polish friend said, "but I think I do."