spells of survival

spells of survival

A Private Atlas

Tracing the geography of gesture and care

Isabel Abbott's avatar
Isabel Abbott
Nov 24, 2025
∙ Paid
From “The Week of no Computer” Michael Schmelling


They wake before the rest of me and begin negotiating with the world without waiting for permission. Reaching to find my wife in her own tangle of sheets and skin and hair, to feel what is familiar and yet remains a revelation. Starting the coffee, morning cuddles with my four-pound baby of a dog, the gla…

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