Author Archives: Gavin Stevens

About Gavin Stevens

Humptulips County is the wholly fictional on-line residence of Stephen Ellis, a would-be writer, an avid fan of William Faulkner and his Yoknapatawpha County, and a retired lawyer.

The Virtue of a Small, Small Place

“If there is such a thing as being conditioned by climate and geography, and I think there is, it is the West that has conditioned me. It has the forms and lights and colors that I respond to in nature … Continue reading

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Moonlight and Snowfall

It is 4:00 AM.  Despite my usual practice of turning on one downstairs light to help guide my way to the stairs which lead to our library, I left it off this morning.   Accordingly, the house is completely dark except for the light I … Continue reading

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Pete Seeger (1919 – 2014)

Well I got a hammer and I got a bell And I got a song to sing all over this land It’s the hammer of Justice, it’s the bell of Freedom It’s the song about Love between my brothers and … Continue reading

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Winter Hangs Heavy

There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons – That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes – Heavenly Hurt, it gives us – We can find no scar, But internal difference, Where the Meanings, are – None may teach it – Any – … Continue reading

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A Winter’s Sunset

Sunset comes early to Humptulips County this time of year.  By dinnertime, our sky has darkened and night is truly upon us.   If you’ve been distracted by some other pursuit during a late afternoon – reading or watching television, perhaps – the all too brief passage … Continue reading

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Of The Nature And Timing of Anniversaries

So different, this man And this woman: A stream flowing In a field. William Carlos Williams, Marriage My brother Mike was feted this week by our home town YMCA for 60 years of continuous employment.  It’s difficult to imagine both the string of years and … Continue reading

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The Joy of Christmas

Despite all of the common complaints about the commercialization of Christmas, complaints which have become the stuff of conventional wisdom; despite the flood of email inducements (during what has proven to be a greatly extended holiday season by my standards) to spend my hard-earned … Continue reading

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A Massacre of Crows

The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And saved some part Of a day I had rued. Robert Frost, Dust of Snow We … Continue reading

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The Songs of God and Dragonflies

And though nature can sing such beautiful wings Did you think of this? That each of us know in our hearts we must go That’s what beauty is And just like the dream you were in Dissolved in the morning … Continue reading

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The Promise of the Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens)

The wind tastes faintly of Winter’s crispness; daylight is shading toward Winter clarity.    Heavy morning frost has become a regular visitor, persisting in the shaded nooks throughout the day and leaving the faintest impression of early snow in the darkest, deepest crannies where daylight scarcely reaches.  Pine limbs greet the day coated … Continue reading

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