Peaceable Kingdom

Growing up in Virginia, dogs were the center of our family life, the focus that made our lives together pleasurable and––for the most part––peaceable. I started “Peaceable Kingdom” when my husband, David, and I brought home a furry shelter dog. “McGuffin” brought back fond and visceral memories of a childhood made more vivid through coexistence with animals. I had forgotten that love could be unconditional; and, later, when McGuffin died, I remembered that grief, though deeply felt, could be uncomplicated. Rediscovering a life made richer through proximity with other creatures, I began trying to make a kind of complex ode to this way of life.