Connecting to nature through poetry and prose
December 11 - December 17 is the 50th week of the Gregorian calendar. This week, we are in the Solar Term of Major Snow (Dec 07 - Dec 21), and the micro-seasons of “The Sky is Cold, Winter Comes” (Dec 07 - Dec 13), and “The Bear Retreats to its Den” (Dec. 12 -Dec 16). The haiku selected for this week were written by Basho, Issa, Buson, Reichhold, and Kerouac.
We have entered the micro-season of “The Common Self-Heal Sprouts”. This is the first micro-season of the mini-season Winter Solstice. To celebrate this season, we will learn about the common self-heal, research Japan’s winter weather, and read some seasonal haiku by Reichhold, Basho, Buson, Issa, and Greves.
We have entered the micro-season of “The Sky is Cold, Winter Comes”. This is the first micro-season of the mini-season Major Snow. To celebrate this season, we will learn about how the Earth’s orbit around the Sun impacts our seasonal temperatures and then read haiku by Buson, Issa, Basho, Taigi, and Toshimi.
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.
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.
Gazing up into the darkness on a clear winter night, I quickly get lost in my own mind with thoughts about life and the vastness of time. Luckily I have poets like Teasdale, Hughes, Basho, Issa, Buson, and Toshimi to provide me company.
The forest transforms itself in the winter and to help celebrate the trees' persistence during the winter months we turn to the poets William Carlos Williams, Margaret Widdemer, and Issa for inspiration.
Emily Dickinson wrote about 500 poems about the seasons. While a majority of those focused on the spring and summer, her winter poems convey a deep sense of reflection and introspection that should be highlighted.
The mini season of Major Snow is marked by a drop in temperature and a noticeable decline in daylight. With this shift, frost is now a common occurrence. As a way to celebrate this season, we will look at how frost is made and then read some poetry by Issa, Buson, Toshimi, and Teasdale.
SeasonWords.com 