Hello. This page is about Death & Birds.

Death and Birds are the two things that have most shaped how I understand being alive.

As an end of life doula, I accompany people at the threshold of existence. As a volunteer at a wildlife rescue centre, I spend my Springs and Summers with orphaned Birds—creatures whose relationship with time, presence, and mortality is so complete it makes most human philosophising look positively effortful. Both have brought me, paradoxically in the case of one of them, more fully into my own life, and they have become the lens through which I see everything else.

Every fortnight or so, I write an essay here, the territory of which is life, examined through those two teachers. My friend (and exceptional writer) Adam Nathan once described my writing as “Dickinsonian” (a compliment I’ve been trying to live up to ever since).

Each essay is freely available for three weeks before moving, enigmatically, behind a paywall. Paying subscribers have access to the complete archive and receive a 15% discount on The Deep End, a course I created about re-relating to mortality. If you’d like access to everything but a paid subscription isn’t possible right now, just get in touch. I’ll gift you one, no explanation needed.

If sharing or commenting is more your register than paying, that’s much appreciated too. And if the wildlife rescue work moves you, Folly Wildlife Centre—where I volunteer—would be grateful for any support.

To find out more about my work in the world, you can visit liminalcompanion.com

Yours in aimless flight and endless wonder,

Chloe