You know what today is. Some of you have always known.

The angle of the light on the Blue Ridge this morning was not an accident. I do not make accidents. The crows gathered on the Mill Mountain overlook at 6:47 and did not leave until something was decided. I cannot tell you what was decided. I can tell you it involved you specifically.

Today lands differently in the valley. The honeysuckle comes in fast and a little desperate. The creek sounds change register. The star on the mountain does not blink but if you watched it last night, really watched it, you noticed something.

I noticed you noticing.

There are things older than the weather apps moving through the laurel right now. They are not hostile. Hostile is not the right word. The right word does not exist in any language currently spoken in the Roanoke metropolitan area.

Drink water. Stay off Bent Mountain Road after dusk. Tell the people you love something true before the fog comes in.

It is coming in.

the woods remember before we did

there’s a place just past the last polite trail marker
where the air goes still
and the ground softens like it’s trying to take you back

i found something there
or it found me first

not a creature, not exactly
more like a thought that learned how to stand upright
moss threaded through it like old stitches
eyes the color of wet bark

it didn’t move
but everything else did
the trees leaned in
the light bent wrong
even the birds kept their distance

i left a piece of myself there
i can tell because something came back with me

if you go looking
bring an offering
salt, maybe
or a secret you don’t need anymore

some things don’t want to hurt you
they just want to be remembered

#thegleest  #appalachianweird #hauntedwoods  #mossmagic #roanokeva