Author Archives: Jaclynn Loibl

I read a little meme about the White Rabbit and Alice—words set against a whimsical forest backdrop, though not in a voice that felt like it was from the original tale. In it, the White Rabbit tells Alice:“I’m not going to love you. Not yet. I want to make sure all the holes in youContinue reading “Do You Love Me?”

I wait. Watching the black steers and half-grown calves, their tails swishing at flies, ears perked forward in quiet alertness. I wait for inspiration. Sitting on the pillowless wooden front porch rocker, laptop in my lap instead of a knife and whittling block in hand. And I wait. Wait for the to-dos I see toContinue reading “When the Cows Passed Noon”

Learn about sunflowers with me. Did you know they actually track the movement of the sun? And that one sunflower head is made up of thousands of tiny individual flowers? Lastly, when the day is done, they turn back toward the east—already anticipating the morning’s return of light. I also learned that if I wantedContinue reading “Turning Toward the Light”

It’s Game Six of the Stanley Cup. I’m zoning in and out — half-watching the commercials, pretending not to care that the team Dave’s rooting for (and, by proxy, me too) is losing. It’s only the start of the second period, but one more goal by Florida will stretch their lead to 3–0, and myContinue reading “Just One of the Guys”

Seated on the top step of our brick porch, laptop resting on my bare legs, I watch the feeder. Just minutes ago, it was still, and now it’s alive: two squirrels and a pair of cardinals — male and female — nibble at the black sunflower seeds. Merlin, the bird song identifier app, is recordingContinue reading “Drive-In Reminiscing”

A chameleon — its outline a deeper lavender, the tip of its mouth light gray, no feet. Like a black hole, centered in a fuselage of cumulus. The animal shape flattens into a crinkle-cut fry, then into a submarine. Cloud watching as I wait for words to arrive, to drown out the high-pitched whines, asContinue reading “Forehands For Fireflies”

Whether I have OCD or not, I don’t know. But if I do, I’m here to tell you — I’m managing it well. As we speak, I’m sitting in a 4’x4’ roped-off space, on my butt, picking out acorns, weeds, and something called centipede grass. Centipede grass grows like a vine — apparently, some peopleContinue reading “Sucking Up Nature”

I recall asking my then-supervisor, Richard, about slow times as a business owner, one who depends on client work for a paycheck. “There are seasons,” he told me. “Sometimes it’s busy, and sometimes there’s a lot of downtime.” Since he was a seasoned psychologist, I trusted him. And whenever those slow periods hit, the instinctContinue reading “The Weight of What Ifs”