Connecting to nature through poetry and prose
“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.
With this weekend’s massive snowstorm behind us, we now turn to Longfellow, Emerson, Issa, Buson, and Basho, to get their thoughts on snowstorms. Some thoughts are positive, and others not so much.
We are at the end of the micro-season, “The Mountain Stream Freezes Over”. This micro-season is the second part of the mini season Major Cold. We celebrate this season with poetry and an investigation into the importance of the earth’s fresh water system.
Write Like Issa: A Haiku How-To by David G. Lanoue explores the mindset needed to write haiku like Kobayashi Issa. Lanoue explains, “To Write like Issa means writing tenderly about one’s fellow creatures, human and otherwise.” This book gives us six lessons on how to get there.
Sunshine rides on space and poetry on sunshine./Poetry gives birth to sunshine, and sunshine to poetry.-excerpt from Armfuls of Poetry, Drops of Sunshine by Thich Nhat Hahn. On January 22, 2022, Thich Nhat Hanh passed away at Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam. Today we honor his work by looking at his teachings and his poetry.
Issa’s haiku “my proxy bathes/in the cold water.../sparrow” is the perfect way to start our exploration into the mini season of Major Cold. This is the last mini season of the 72 Season calendar and the time where athletes begin to engage in Kangeiko.
SeasonWords.com 