People speak of the fear of the blank canvas as though it is a temporary hesitation, a trembling moment of self-doubt. For me it was more like being abducted from my bed by a clown, thrust into a circus arena with a wicker chair, and told to tame a pissed-off lion in front of an expectant crowd.

I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.

No doves come from ravens’ eggs

Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.

If I believed everything everyone had ever told me about my family I'd be a sight more miserable than I am now

It was only later that I suffocated under the weight of his arguments, and his darker thoughts articulated. It was only later that our tongues produced landslides, that we become caught in the cracks between what we said and what we meant, until we could not find each other, did not trust the words in our own mouths.

...dreadful birds, dressed in red with breasts of silver buttons, and cocked heads and sharp mouths, looking for guilt like berries on a bush.