The maples steal my breath
with glowing leaves the colors of fire.
Likewise the birch
golden against deep blue sky.

Walk among them now
on a crisp sunny day.
Inhale the shades of red, yellow, and orange
until, in your exhale, you could almost breathe fire
from the glory of the colors and scents of autumn.

We could be this—
such lovers of trees and […]

“Hope is the thing with feathers,”
so says Emily Dickinson.

“When despair for the world grows in me
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and
I come into the peace of wild things.”
Borrowed, of course, from Wendell Berry.

When we need propping up
after, or maybe sometimes before, we topple,
it is […]

Spring Polarities

It’s the freeze at night, thaw by day cycle
of early spring that gets the sap flowing.
Freezing creates negative pressure that condenses cells in the tree.
Thawing causes positive pressure, which expands those cells.
The sugary sap of the maple thus flows up and down the tree.

Syruping is a ritual of spring for many
signaling the change of […]

We humans are quite a mess these days.
Ranging from blind rage to unsettled to terrified.
Maybe we’re always like this, but right now
we seem particularly public in our display.

What are we to do with this onslaught of emotions?
I ask myself that a lot these days.
How am I to hold this turmoil
in my body, my nervous system, […]

She’s not there all the time.
Just enough to keep me looking up.
I round the corner at the back of the yard
where the tall pines grow,
approaching, always, with hushed anticipation.
Just in case.

Sometimes she’s there
roosting on the limb
that must be the right combination
of cover and room to land and take off.

Even the poet in me struggles to […]

Early snow.
So many leaves still in the midst of autumn.
From radiant yellows to deep red, russet, and orange
really, the leaves were just getting started.
Then, big wet flakes drifted down.
All day long.

Until seven inches blanketed the ground.
Now brightly colored leaves sit atop the snow
while most of their companions are still aloft,
waiting for their time to release
and […]

Dressed in rain gear to deflect burrs
I plunge into the woods that border my yard.
It’s an annual event
trying to remove the burrs from the ground
which is far easier than from the dog.

Burrs might well take over the world
so designed are they for multiplying.
Still, I do my best to quell the growth
hoping for a cool-ish day […]

May the warmth of the sun kiss your skin and nourish your body. May the rains wash clean that which is ready to let go, and wrap you in a garment of undying love.

What we need around these whispered fears is to breathe deeply allow our tender hearts to open to compassion for ourselves, our loved ones, and all beings near and far.

If we do this right—and by that I mean with grace and compassion—perhaps we’ll see ourselves in strangers. Really see ourselves for the global family that we are.