Maslow's Cabin

Transitioning from fall to winter in northern latitudes steers the mind to shelter and warmth. Drawing and words and music by Nate Richardson/The Littoralist. 

A small sturdy structure in the woods evokes a simple life hewn from hard-earned skill and sweat on the brow.

Its woodsmoke a proud flag of independence, self-reliance and shelter from the storm.

The mended wall and a path through the woods a sign of good neighbors.

Manistee River Bench

Thoughts from a back-woods bench. Drawing, music and words by Nate Richardson/The Littoralist.

The river, caught in the late autumn sun, slowed and nearly stopped.

Eventually his mind slowed too, becoming a part of that river bend.

It could have been a minute, a year or a hundred years that passed while sitting there... there was no time.

He was alone but they were all there too; the trappers, loggers, homesteaders, the bench builder, and all the souls who had sought peace along that stretch.