Roy Arthur Blodgett

Ramblings, recollections, and regards.

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AHHH, these were so fun to make! A collaboration between Nous Handplanes and Serpent & Bow has produced these two beautiful handplanes. The indigo bottoms and straps, hand dyed fabric by the wonderful Rachel Blodgett, go wonderfully with the reclaimed redwood.

You can find them here, along with other beautiful Serpent & Bow products!

I love my community beyond words.

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A collaboration between two of the most inspiring and important figures in my life. I couldn't be more humbled by these two and what they bring to this place. 

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Instagram

For those who've asked, follow me on Instagram @roy_arthur

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Very grateful for a wonderful weekend in Santa Cruz with Taj and friends. 

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My sister Rachel and I were recently photographed and interviewed by our friend Silvanie, for her blog - check it out! 

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Got some more photos developed from a trip up to the Lost Coast last month.

- Lost Coast, California. 35mm Color Film, June 2014 -

"I like the world of nature despite its mortal dangers. I like the domestic world  of humans, so long as it pays its debts to the natural world, and keeps its bounds.” -Wendell Berry, from Some Further Words

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Some more photographs taken by Taj, during our camping excursion at Usal Beach. 

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Usal Beach Fragment III

On the ridge trail

a winding blackness

with water rot 

sourced by this seep

a trickle from the duff

I remove two handfuls 

of silt, so fine it sloughs

from my palm like water,

and soundlessly we wait

and watch as millipedes

black, yellow-spotted

emerge and descend 

from the needles

and when the water runs clear

we remove our hats

and stoop as drinking lions

eyes closed to our reflections

and I think, 

as I reseat my Stetson

of all the sorrows

I have known,

all of the affronts

to belonging, none

can be matched 

by this simple 

sup from the spring

- June 2nd, 2014 -

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Usal Beach Fragment II

Over and under

lapping chords draw tight

thighs ache

In the pockets of my jeans,

I can feel my pulse 

as it crashes through my hips

my lungs and heart

fill and empty

fill and empty

as the tides do

as if the natural

demands this rhythm

- and yet we seek to be 

filled always

- June 1st, 2014 -

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- Usal Beach, Lost Coast, CA. June 1, 2014 -

"You should really know what the complete natural world of your region is and know what all its interactions are and how you are interacting with it yourself. This is just part of the work of becoming who you are, where you are." - Gary Snyder, The Real Work

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At the beginning of June, I was fortunate enough to go camping at the southern gateway to the Lost Coast with some of the most inspiring individuals I've ever met. Taj documented the trip beautifully in photographs. 

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Usal Beach Fragment I

Usal delta spills

one-thousand feet below

washing out, widening

to greet the ocean

where reticulate

white foam patterns

break upon the ridges

We dwell in fog

among fir skeletons

where someone

has left a shrine

a wreath of leaves

a heart of limbs

a grave for whom? 

- June 2nd, 2014 - 

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Gable Spine

Stablehouse

gone earthward

gable spine rolling

its slow descent to rot

a shingle line sweeping

in easy repose

like the shoulders

of a stooped buffalo

And just above 

miles yon view 

of the Mayacamas' 

broken sawtooth relief

against the evening,

Mount Saint Helena

presiding above all -

her silhouette a mirror 

of the same loping rhythm

I pass three times

in as many days

taking the long way 'round

just to see this ruined

house of man and beast,

left to this noblest 

abandonment,

and find settling

that it may align

by decay, to honor yet

a greater order

- July 11th, 2014 - 

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Road Trip Poem IV

Cross over

New Mexico

high mesalands

long shadows and longer views

no trees, yet plenty green

shows truer for the soil

especially in the sun-low hours

We drove right through

that place on 40

past two bands of antelope

three and three

they used to roam 

in the hundreds

but I was told I should

be glad to see any

for that I am, 

surely,

lucky

- June 16th, 2014 - 

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Road Trip Poem III

Tucumcari 

red dirt, potholes

town alive for

out-of-towners

but bleeding

'neath bent shacks

given to the weather

biker Tucumcari

calls to me, says

take care of that

good looking gal,

California

Oh, I will, I say,

that's my sister

Start by getting 

out of this town

- Although, I really liked Tucumcari. June 15th, 2014 -

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Road Trip Poem II

Texas two-lane 

heat slicks in the rearview

look like flooded bajadas

Through Quanah

by way of 287

can't see Comanche country

for all the oil mantids

and truck stops

One-hundred and fifty years

of extraction obscures

the vision

both fore

and aft

- June 12th, 2014 - 

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Road Trip Poem I

Memphis guesthouse

I lay atop the sheets

sleepclothes rolled back 

hug a pillow night-long

sleep doesn't come easy

'side thoughts like these

like these

day breaks on night

like cream in coffee

gleams through the slats

McKinney tonight,

to family forsaken

to the years 

- June 11th, 2014 - 

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No path to follow

yet we, in leaving the known

abandon nothing

- March 30th, 2014 - 

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Here, weaving symbols

with this mind born to meaning

I am led astray

- May 30th, 2014 - 

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Short wick, lantern flame

lake wet hair beneath moon glow

shivers in my mouth

- May 29th, 2014 -