Angie came home from work to see the lights in her upstairs burning brightly. "Hello?" she called. "Hello?" "We're in your attic!" I hollered. "Come on up! It was too cold in the garage, so I turned your attic into a little studio." She wandered in to this scene. I'll post the snap she took of the two of us in the comments. This is what it's like to live next door to two artists. Like mice, they come into your house in the winter and they hide away in unused spaces (and they may rearrange things a little....). The photo is one of (probably) four attempts to portray an idea about the nature of being an artist. When I sketched the visual on paper, I called it "The One that Got Away"...it was going to be the story of the poem that drifted near but remained elusive. When we shot it, it became clear to me that Ron's energy isn't that of anything drifting away...that he will work and work till he gets it. I understand this energy; I share it. And so this mini-series will be called "The Gift." *** "The Gift (I)"; photograph by Jinn Bug of the poet Ron Whitehead in Angie Rice Vittitow's attic, shot on the night of 15 Jan 2019