Lessons from the Wild… Hummingbirds 14 Jan 202114 Jan 2021 The hummingbirds arrived in our backyard again this summer, stopping to refuel on their long flight south. We watched as they helicoptered around the feeders, hovering as if frozen in…
Lessons from the Wild Charley The Donkey 14 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 Is a happy slice of life Who brays at six am For his breakfast and Makes sure you don’t Forget about it. It’s always a kind word From him as…
Lessons from the Wild… Abracadabra 14 Jan 20211 Jan 2021 I stepped on a red mulberry leaf. “Ta-da” it’d crunched. We understood the alchemy of outside then, when we were kids. I enjoy outside now but have never been an…
Lessons from the Wild Faith in Spring 13 Jan 202112 Jan 2021 after Patricia Fragnoli Poem by Connie Jordan Green. Connie Jordan Green lives on a small farm in East Tennessee. She is the author of two award-winning novels for young…
Lessons from the Wild… Lessons from a Rock 13 Jan 202113 Jan 2021 I had a certain kinship with nature at a young age, growing up on an old farm with thirty five acres of fields and woodland. Climbing fallen trees and the…
Lessons from the Wild Wildwood 12 Jan 202111 Jan 2021 We called them 'the woods' but truth be told they were a city forest preserve, a swath of controlled growth between highways—anemic oaks and dun evergreens, a dry creek bed…
Lessons from the Wild… My sister kept her garden 12 Jan 20211 Jan 2021 a careful patch with squash and beans, some other stuff we grew, growing up, a handful of blueberry shrubs nurtured against a wall for those days we piled into late…
Lessons from the Wild My Road Home 12 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 It’s soft May rain splattering the sycamore leaves outside my bedroom window; October fog sneaking into the early-morning valley before the sun comes up and roots it out. It’s grandma’s…
Lessons from the Wild… People Still Get Polio 11 Jan 202111 Jan 2021 I discover a skinny desert path on my first morning walk in the Arizona neighborhood. The trail’s opening looks menacing in that brutal desert way, but further up the hill…
Lessons from the Wild The Listener 11 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 AM (1 day ago) I pay little attention to the sound of falling leaves, birdsong, wind in the trees. I listen for the rising sound from the ground before I…
Lessons from the Wild… Pretty Little Darlings 11 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 Little darling greeted me in the back yard, slender face, dark eyes, coal black hair. Seemed interested to meet me, walked forward without hesitation. I froze, unable to speak,…
Lessons from the Wild Autumn Coda, Winter Wondering (for my teacher) 10 Jan 20219 Jan 2021 You unbolted a painted library (its glossy-white oak shelves laden with human noise bound in leather) and cracked open an eye-slit of nature: the limping hare, the iron-cold owl, and…
Nature How to Start a Movement, According to Crows 10 Jan 202110 Jan 2021 I hear them before I see them. By the tone, the meeting is important. I see flutters of wings, like black leaves, not falling but rising, from tree to tree,…
Lessons from the Wild… Once in a Lifetime 9 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 Marine biologists said it would only happen once, a phenomenon, swarming of bait fish off Cape Cuvier along distant Western Australian coast. A desolate, rocky place, few got to observe…
Lessons from the Wild… Three Answers to Any Dilemma 9 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 I. The Thunderstorm After sudden rain water rests as the puddle gathers blossoms. II. The Northern Blizzard While the howl covers a continent meek…
Lessons from the Wild Le Futur Proche 9 Jan 20219 Jan 2021 Don’t ask me to live for a far-off future, the prospect of falling in love again or someday grandchildren. Don’t tell me to take walks every day like vitamins, so…
Lessons from the Wild I Like You Best Without Makeup 8 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 The granite ribs and peaks of the mountain rise out of ponderosa pine. Turning from my pillow, I look over the wrinkles and ridges, unblemished crests slipping from the robe…
Lessons from the Wild… Hold Gently the Things That You Love 8 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 Photo by Carolyn Adams Carolyn Adams’ poetry and art have been published in the pages, and on the covers of Wend Poetry Journal, Steam Ticket, Apercus Quarterly, Calyx, and…
Nature Diver Tells How Shark Bit His Head 8 Jan 20211 Jan 2021 Summary of a S.F. Chronicle article by George Snyder, Chronicle North Bay Bureau Diver Tells How Shark Bit His Head Only minor wounds in attack at beach on Sonoma Coast…
Lessons from the Wild Thank you 7 Jan 2021 Cracked sidewalks of unincorporated Wisconsin: a woman yells at her dogs to stop barking. These are outdoor dogs with outdoor homes, ones that can stomach hours of cold. Your own…
Lessons from the Wild… River 7 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 I thought about you today A maelstrom of lonely Stirred beneath my bones And I remembered that most Of my life was lived near the river So maybe the river…
Lessons from the Wild… Stone Ponds Way Trail 7 Jan 20211 Jan 2021 In the ice kingdom above Upper Lena Lake, my son and I are the only moving shapes. We follow an indistinct path and trade leads, because the practice of drafting…
Lessons from the Wild A Lament for Blackthorn Blossom 6 Jan 20217 Jan 2021 Only last week, its froth framed this Welsh lane with a wedding arch, a pair of willow warbler, the happy couple. Meanwhile the virus was in hideous rise, morgues appeared…
Lessons from the Wild Credo for a Pandemic 6 Jan 20215 Jan 2021 I believe that the house finch - orange cap and breast lifted each morning to call to its mate in the fir tree - holds for safekeeping my memory of…
Lessons from the Wild… A Lament for Blackthorn Blossom 6 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 Only last week, its froth framed this Welsh lane with a wedding arch, a pair of willow warbler, the happy couple. Meanwhile the virus was in hideous rise, morgues…
Lessons from the Wild… Moonlight Whispers 6 Jan 20216 Jan 2021 Moonlight, silver, streams through trees between clouds and night wind. Spring Peepers chirping, cicadas singing over grass rustling, waving, waving under wind. These frame, define, infuse meaning into life: my…
Lessons from the Wild This Field Has Eyes, This Wood Has Ears 5 Jan 20216 Jan 2021 In the canopy, on the floor, a story is written on stem, tangle-vine, rock. Owl sits in judgement. Raven disputes the verdict. Field mouse musters a new defense. Elms drape…
