There are stories about home. There are stories about a view of trees outside my window, about listening to birds as the sun shines in to wake me up in the morning. There are stories about a field where mice scurry as dogs run loose and soy crops grow in the summertime, where deer pass through when they want to show off and coyotes prowl and calculate. There are other stories about those same coyotes attacking dogs at night, about shooting stars and milky ways, stories about the sky meeting the ground and not being able to tell them apart for the glow of the fireflies meeting he glow of the sky.

There are stories about fire not just bonfires but fires that live inside and build to explosions, fires that build wars over walls and building permits and baseboards, fires about listening or not listening to two people yell hateful things and create thick air. There are stories about riding away and back again, about missing and hating all at the same time, so much so that it makes me cry out of confusion.There are stories about pots of soup, the best lasagne you’ve ever had and all the fruit you can eat, about morning tea that soon turns into morning coffee, about sunroom gossip and late night cards. There are stories about the garden that spans the length of the house and wraps around like a hug, about new fruit trees, hens and chickens (the plant that is), lilies and peonies. There are stories about my father wanting to cut down brush and us protesting because it would kill the wild flowers.

There are stories about long walks in the woods and long walks to the creek, being stuck up to my knees in clay, riding the tractor through the fields in the winter. There are stories about past and present and what makes me who I will be, about where I am and where I want to go and how I will ever find a place to call home since it sometimes seems like a memory that I am trying to recreate. There are stories about home, which is sometimes quite simply the place that I sleep. There are stories about home. There are stories about searching for home, about home. Heather Annis

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| York University
February 20-27, 2007

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