Chris Despard

About Chris Despard

The high country north of Barkers Creek gets the snow first; you can watch it whiten the Plott Balsams while the valley floor is still only wet. Chris Despard reads that the way people here have always read weather, and by the time it reaches the bottomland the truck is already out. Nights are for plowing, driveways and turnarounds and the long shared lanes that serve three houses and belong to none of them. Days are for the finish work, shoveling steps, clearing a path to the woodpile, spreading salt on the shaded stretch beside the garage. One person, one route, done in order, and every place on it wakes up able to leave.