Mary Sojourner remembers her
First Buffalo Park Full Moon
(Editor's Note: Mary Sojourner's writing is treasured across America and most especially by Southwestern readers. Mary has kept alive the glow of her Love for Buffalo Park ever since she set foot in Flagstaff. We excerpted Mary's description of her First Full Moon in Buffalo Park. This excerpt is even more powerful when read in context of her full essay found here:
https://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/past%20issues/brev26hotcold/sojourner_moon.html)
(Mary Sojourner is the author of three novels: Sisters of the Dream Northland Publishers, 1989; Going Through Ghosts, University of Nevada Press, 2010 and 29, Torrey House Press, 2014; the short story collection, Delicate, Nevermore Press, 2001 and Scribner, 2004; essay collection, Bonelight: ruin and grace in the New Southwest University of Nevada Press, 2002 and 2004; memoir, Solace: rituals of loss and desire, Scribner, 2004; and memoir/self-help guide, She Bets Her Life, Seal Press, 2010. She has been a ten-year NPR commentator and now reviews books for KNAU’s Southwest Book Reviews. She’s the author of op eds and columns for High Country News, Yoga Journal, Writers on the Range, Matador Network and dozens of other publications. She was chosen as a Distinguished Writer in Residence in 2007 by the Virginia C. Piper Center for Creative Writing, ASU.)
"Once, when I was a pioneer in this high desert, carrying city time in me as measured by clocks and calendars, I walked Buffalo Park at sunset. I raised my arms to banners of scarlet and purple. I said, “Thank you for this day.” The light seemed to alchemize forever. When only a ribbon of pale green stretched across the horizon I turned and followed the eastern curve back toward the trailhead.
I was stopped by an impossible sight. The edge of what seemed to be a huge searchlight burned just above the lower slope of Mount Elden. I stood transfixed. And, as I imagined a plane crash, a celestial visitor from who-knew-where, the full moon lifted steadily above the dark mountain. I knew I was held in a great prayer."
See also:
https://www.breakthroughwriting.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sojourner
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