There were wild strawberries in the backyard
choked by bones and leeched by dandelions.
I liked to make wishes on them.
I didn't realize what they did then
that they spread like a disease
and took the water from the other plants.
Still they were magical then
as everything in childhood somehow is.
how it keeps such a glow like that
i'll never know.
The virgin mary was there too
she was in the backyard
surrounded by tall grass and weeds
we were meant to tend.
There wasn't time enough.
there was too much to look after.

Domicile Piece by Blair Ryan

I spend more time in this room without a bed than I do where I sleep, this room with a view of the street. When the panes of the window are wet I know to take my long, black, Eddie Bauer trench coat because it’s raining sideways and an umbrella won’t do enough.

I found this wooden table and set of four hand-painted and upholstered chairs on Craigslist. You can see the original green layer under the black paint in places on the backs of the chairs. We picked it up with a friend’s minivan, from a house in a neighborhood full of houses I’ll never have enough money to live in.

A few nights ago, I thought I was reading on the couch in the living room, but I hadn’t turned the page in a while and for the first time was aware of and annoyed by the ticking analog clock over the sink here in the kitchen. I guess I wasn’t really reading.

There are many superfluous items on the counter that my housemates insist stay on display. Identical teakettles occupy two stove burners. Only one is used. Empty tins are granted space because of their exterior design, despite their lack of functionality. We drink espresso from standard mugs, but miniature cups with tiny spoons sit on top of the microwave. They accumulate dust and have to be moved every time I put away the cutting boards. If my mum lived here there would be foil lining the burners. I often say I’m going to put some down.

Postcards from Arizona, Disneyland and Joshua Tree National Park collage the front of the fridge. Three parking tickets are displayed, a demonstration of open resistance by some friends to the two-hour curb in front of our apartment. Hand-delivered guides to finding God in just ten steps have accumulated under a bicycle magnet with the phrase, “Put the Fun Between Your Legs.”

The dishwasher leaves food particles inside drinking glasses. If you take something out of the microwave before the cycle completes, it continues when you shut the door, nuking the empty compartment. Cheerios and raw pasta noodles make up most of what is swept into the dustpan. The fruit bowl is constantly overflowing. Bananas and plums at the bottom of the pile are frequently forgotten and have to be removed by paper towel. A glass as old as I am sits in the drying rack – The Oregon Invitational 1986 – I found it at a thrift store in Tigard for fifty cents.

It is in this room I wonder how much of my life will be spent waiting for files to upload, transfer and render. Hours fly by when I edit photographs after shoots. It is home to Apple products and design magazines.

My favorite mornings are when I can sit at the table, watching the drops hit the window, drinking espresso from a mug, in my pajamas, listening to Pandora radio. The best evenings are when we’re home together and pull the table away from the wall, bring desk chairs from our bedrooms and cook chicken with onion potatoes for friends we invite for a last minute family dinner.

Clarity on Submissions

Im putting together the first zine in the concept of random bits of beauty,

anything random or beautiful will do...

and thats up to you

Id like to see something creative and personal to you,

something that has a bit of your style

It can be personal, funny, serious, however it suits you...

just enough to fit on a half page ,
(and i can shrink the font so no worries you wordy folks)

Ill be editing, so Ill go over it with you, before the final draft.

I want to honor peoples voices and style

pictures and art are great!

I want it to be a collective piece by the community
that really represents the people in it,
in some fun random way.

Hope thats clearer

Looking for Submissions

In an effort to create a zine that is as multifaceted and voracious for all things beautiful and random, I am embarking on what I call

The Sparrowhawk Collective

I am asking for submissions, that will be posted on this blog site, and later put into hard copy paper form for distribution among our community.

Looking for:

Articles

Essays

Poems

Art Work

Photography

Rants

Reviews

Doodles

Quotes

How To's

This is free form, and open to the public! My hope is to infuse voices from all over in an effort to do what Sparrowhawk stands for, cute fierceness ;) Or in other words, to remember that everything with wings is restless and so we mustn't cease to express our minds, our voices, and our hearts!!!

Please submit pieces to:

TheSparrowhawkCollective@gmail.com