Connecting to nature through poetry and prose
“With a rare leaf for a roof in the rain,/With a rare cap for his cardinal hood,/The cardinal bird remains”-Orrick Johns. The Northern Cardinal is a striking bird that has captured the imagination of poets for generations. To honor this bird, we are reading cardinal related poetry for Orrick Johns, Nancy McCleery, and Alfred Noyes.
It is the micro-season of “Plants Show Their First Buds''. This is the last micro-season of the mini season of Rain Water. To honor this season we are looking at maple syrup and reading "Evening in the Sugar Orchard" by Robert Frost.
“The mourning dove/ wearing noon’s aureole/ coos from the rhododendron”(excerpt from “What the Dove Sings” by Carol Frost) Today we honor the mourning dove with poems by Emily Dickinson, Joe Tessitor, Carol Frost, and Galway Kinnel.
“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks” - H.W. Longfellow. Born on February 27, 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a poet, educator, translator, and environmentalist. In a three-part series titled “Longfellow’s Nature Poetry”, the National Park Service explores Longfellow’s connection to the land and how it influenced his writing.
We have entered the micro-season of “The Earth Becomes Damp''. This is the first micro-season of the mini season of Rain Water. To honor this season we investigate ice jams and read poems by Marks, Buson, Basho, and Issa.
“Your sort of gorgeousness,/Dark and lustrous/And unfathomable/And poopy-glossy/ Is the gorgeousness that evokes my darkest admiration”- D.H. Lawrence. Today we honor the wild turkey with a poem and then an investigation into Benjamin Franklin’s thoughts about this native bird.
We have entered the micro-season of “Fish Rise From the Ice''. We are honoring this time of year by looking at the tradition of ice fishing and reading “The Fish” by William Butler Yeats.
Snowshoe hares, or Lepus americanus, are frequent visitors to our neighborhood. Finding their tracks in the snow reminds me of how fascinating these animals are and some of the poems they inspire
In a short article written for Northern Woodlands, Rebecca Perkins Hanissian ponders her relationship to migratory birds. Besides being a humorous read about human behavior, this article identified 5 avian adaptations worth sharing.
We have entered the mini season of First Spring and The Year of the Tiger. We are honoring this time of year by reviewing the Lunisolar calendar and reading “Tyger” by William Blake.
What can we learn about ourselves and our community when we listen to the birds? David G Haskell invites us to find out with 5 invitations.
We are at the end of the micro-season, “The Chicken Lays Her First Eggs”. Although, Chickens may not be laying very many eggs in New England right now, we do have traditions like Groundhog's Day and poetry by Hickler, Issa, and Kerouac to remind us that spring is coming.
SeasonWords.com 