Waiting for Phoenix

Sundsvall, Sweden

Dear Polly,
As I write, a volcano under the Eyafjall glacier on Iceland continues to erupt. While I am not on Iceland to witness diverging (or are they converging?) tectonic plates with my own eyes, I am witness to the steam, the ashes and cancelled airline flights. I hear that never before have so many flights been cancelled by such a catastrophe, natural or otherwise.

Phoenix.

How long did the bird live? In any event, it would build itself a nest of herbal fibers at the end of that time. It would look like an eagle, fan its golden wings and set the nest afire. A small worm would then be found in the ashes. Are you that worm?

This weekend I had the privilege of attending a conference (SFÖ) for trade translators in the lively Swedish lumber trading metropolis of Sundsvall, Sweden, a town that literally rose from the ashes in 1888 ( Nils Johan Tjärnlund, architectural historian from Sundsvall). Mr. Tjärnlund proved to be more than happy to answer all my questions about first impressions of the town where he grew up. I did not tell him about you, nor did we talk about earthquakes, volcanoes, or fires. We talked about train stations and other buildings in Sundsvall, and national romanticism at the turn of the last century, when you were a young girl.

As I return to my typewriter this evening, I can tell that you and I are on a test flight, like Lina S. Berg (see my earlier blog entry, Nov 5, 2009). I sense timelessness of meaning in the redwood fiber, the heat and steam of your dream. A perfect Redwood hatchery, broken egg shells all around, frantic movement, wet feathers and chirps. Easter Sunday in 1906 was on April 15.

I am writing to you on a sunny Sunday in Sundsvall, Sweden

your dear granddaughter,
xxxooo