All Good Things, Letter 9: Home sweet home
All Good Things is a collection of letters I wrote to my dear friend Caleb Bouchard between Summer 2020 and Spring 2022. It was published as a small chapbook by Analog Revolution Press in 2022. I’ve compiled the letters here, with additional photos, for you. So make yourself a nice cup of tea, and enjoy.
December 15, 2021
Dear Caleb,
Feels good to bust out the ol typewriter. It’s 9:27pm, the moon is full, the canopy is thin as my potbelly stove rages. I’m spinning Tony Scott’s Music for Zen Meditation and Other Joys (1964) over and over and over and over in an attempt to achieve accidental satori. It’s a marvelous recording I hope you hear one day. Have you tried meditation of any kind? I’m a sporadic, apathetic weakling, but sometimes thinking about meditating feels just as good. Incense helps keep track of how long one is supposed to ignore the immediacy of perception. It’s useful to know what you could be missing out on (ever forgettable). Have you read any poetry by Gary Snyder? He’s my latest fascination since reading Poets on the Peaks about his time as a firewatch in the North Cascades. It was recommended to me by Jim Henterly, the lookout on Desolation Peak I wrote to you about.
The Ellijay Makerspace is in full swing. I truly am living the wildest dreams of my past self, and I don’t stop to appreciate that enough. Still, I dream of distant peaks, known and unknown, and I long to be on the trail again. January 2-9 I will again be joining my aunt Helen and uncle Philip on their annual trip to Cumberland Island. This will be the third year in a row, and my sixth or seventh overall. That means eight days of undisturbed islandry, bike rides, sunrises, and gourmet vegan cuisine. A writer’s paradise. If only I were a writer. I’m turning a creative page, to be sure, but a writer I am not yet again. Writing to you seems to be my greatest inspiration, and you see how steadily that practice goes. Perhaps I’ll publish a chapbook of epistles –out of sheer laziness and desire for numb satisfaction. Still, I dream of sharing y experiences. Perhaps there’s a kindred schmuck out there who could benefit from them after all. Few have sought out the necessary solitude I have found in countless wildernesses, and I owe it to those wild places to boast of the lessons they have taught me. To remove all influence of society, for even a day, is a rare thing. To revel in it for hundreds of hard won miles is another all together. I need to believe in my audience. I need to believe in my audience.
February tenth I will board a flight to flagstaff, Arizona, commencing, perhaps, the greatest adventure of my life to date. On February 12, I’ll put-in on the Colorado River with fifteen others and raft through the Grand Canyon for twenty-four river days. Permits are near-impossible to obtain, but my friend (and whitewater guide) Jake has invited me on his private trip. Assuming I survive, on March ninth I will then hitch-hike to Moab, Utah to start a hike I have dreamed of for years. The Hayduke Trail is not actually a trail, but an 800-mile route (much like the Grand Enchantment Trail I hiked in Fall of 2020). It begins in Arches National Park and traverses the entirety of Southern Utah, including six national parks. Most of it comprises of cross-country travel with no true footpath. I will finish my trek by re-entering Grand Canyon National Park and walking the length of the canyon, some 200 miles. It’ll be snow-packed most of the way, well into April. Climbing down cliffs, squeezing through slot-canyons, crossing rivers, and carrying gallons of water. I can’t wait.
It’s Friday now. Wild how the flip of a page will do that. It is no different from reality. The present is all there is. Last night I made the final edits to my first film. I can’t help but feel an inkling of pride in it. I can’t wait to share it with others (even though deep down I know we’re all one organism, so really I’ll just be sharing it with other selves). My friend Noah Estrella is stopping by Ellijay today to record the soundtrack with me. You might vaguely remember him from the band Delphinium. He’s also in Art Contest, Sunset Honor Unit, and generally kicks sonic ass. I’m stoked. Okay, gotta go into town now for my weekly shower and finish building those stools for the ceramic studio at the makerspace. Be well. Have a cup of tea for your health and watch Godzilla for me. Enjoy your day, enjoy your week, enjoy your life. Otherwise, what’s the point of it all?
All good things (poets?)
-Ryan
p.s. happy early early early early early birthday to us! My dad teased me for being the tenth person to wish him a happy birthday, so I’m not taking any more chances.
