White desk with pink notebook, roses, keyboard, and gold paperclips that Francesca Varela uses to copy edit for romance, science fiction, and fantasy authors

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  • The Long Dance

    1–2 minutes

    Oak treesspread like coral inthe long danceas the crowswatch the edges, as theypaint shadowsover the riverwith their wings,and perch on branches sponged with lichen,calling the sun forthto their feathers.

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  • River Light

    1–2 minutes

    River lighttuned to the sunstretchedlike pieces of spider silk, white over the blue shallow waterand glacial pools,the stones unraveled and caught in the duck’s beak,the heron,the osprey,the scrape of wings,the lines on the water,the intersection of bug and currentand fallen alder leavestumbling the waysnow catches on a hill,pumping along the threadthat ties mountain to sea,sea

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  • The Hunter

    1–2 minutes

    Half-light,pulled close around the ferns,as I wade through dusk swamps of ivy,walking, rushing,swatting lace-webbed kingdomsdrawn between cedar tendrils, down to the base of the creek,the silver rush of mud and fallen leaveswhere the owl watches,her wings two striped archesunfolding silently into the air,an arrow bound for the soil,for the slick white back,wet with dew,of a

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  • Between Waves

    1–2 minutes

    The cloud sea. Two crows bow to the pink edges. They perch on top of the Douglas firs, where the sun unfolds, seeping through as though salt from the sea. And the clouds move steadily–sloped mountainsides, saturated grey-blue: storms, far hills, still moments between waves.

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Francesca Varela specializes in copy editing for romance, science fiction, and fantasy authors