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Contributing Writer Storytelling & Travel Writing

Tom Bretherton

Tom Bretherton has spent the better part of two decades travelling, and the better part of that time paying attention. He has contributed to Light & Composition since 2014 with a writer's instinct for the particular — the name of a town, the timing of a conversation, the kind of detail that makes a story feel true. His Reflections are brief narratives that arrive at something universal by way of somewhere very specific.

621 Published Reflections

Reflections by Tom Bretherton

Two Boys in the Courtyard Photo of the Day
March 26, 2012

Two Boys in the Courtyard

My grandfather used to say that you only need two friends in this life who will sit with you in silence and never ask you to explain yourself. I didn’t understand what he meant until years later, standing outside an old rail station in the rain with someone I hadn’t seen in a decade. We […]
What the River Carries Away Photo of the Day
March 1, 2012

What the River Carries Away

In the early hours, before speech begins, the river has a voice of its own. It is a quiet murmur against the wooden hull, steady as a heartbeat. We look for grand answers to complicated questions, but the river offers only simplicity: keep moving, give way when needed, and trust the path that gravity has […]
The Dignity of the Wheel Photo of the Day
September 16, 2011

The Dignity of the Wheel

The streets of our cities are filled with uncelebrated heroes—craftsmen, pullers, vendors—who carry the weight of the day with quiet nobility. They do not ask for applause; they ask only to do their work with pride and return home to their families at night. Their lives are the true backbone of our society. Shahnaz Parvin […]
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