Your poem with its reference to oaks made me think that Wendell Berry has a poem called The Sycamore. You know how fond I am of that tree. Here is how it starts:
In the place that is my own place, whose earth I am shaped in and must bear, there is an old tree growing, a great sycamore that is a wondrous healer of itself.
Really nice, Jessica. I appreciate your sharing of the view on people who want to travel into space. I wonder if people who want to build skyscrapers suffer that same human disconnection. I've always thought both space travel and skyscrapers were kind of ridiculous.
Gravity as love! What a great analogy, like a mother holding onto her baby tightly. 💚
Coincidentally my Nov 15 post to come includes Kimmerer and her book, but centers on the Maya milpa system. I only discovered Sweetgrass a year or so ago. Amazing.
Right on, Jessica! Years ago at a retreat, David Abram made the same point - Eros is gravity. I love how a good yoga class and savasana can summon brilliant insights that we can only “know” with our bodies. I was struck by that exact same point in Ted Gioia’s essay.
Your poem with its reference to oaks made me think that Wendell Berry has a poem called The Sycamore. You know how fond I am of that tree. Here is how it starts:
In the place that is my own place, whose earth I am shaped in and must bear, there is an old tree growing, a great sycamore that is a wondrous healer of itself.
I thought you might like that line.
Dad
Thank you, I love it!
Thank you, Jessica. This really resonates with the anxiety I am feeling and the need to literally ground myself and get outside in the dirt.
On a similar note, I have carried a small slip of paper in my wallet, since my kids were babies, with this poem:
The Peace of Wild Things.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
That’s a great one.
Really nice, Jessica. I appreciate your sharing of the view on people who want to travel into space. I wonder if people who want to build skyscrapers suffer that same human disconnection. I've always thought both space travel and skyscrapers were kind of ridiculous.
Gravity as love! What a great analogy, like a mother holding onto her baby tightly. 💚
Thank you so much!
Coincidentally my Nov 15 post to come includes Kimmerer and her book, but centers on the Maya milpa system. I only discovered Sweetgrass a year or so ago. Amazing.
Oooh I missed that one — thank you, can’t wait to read it!
It's coming up--I have it scheduled for mid November. She is simply remarkable.
Simply truly!!
Thank you for a much needed focus today. Looks like your fall is beautiful. We are lucky to also savor out beautiful fall in Columbus.
Gorgeous pictures. I live in Montana and it is beautiful here too.
Thank you! I have family that has moved to Montana and it’s so nice! All the Bs—Bozeman, Billings, and Big Sky!
Doors always open!!!
Beautiful and wise. Thank you!
The story, poems and pictures are fantastic.
Right on, Jessica! Years ago at a retreat, David Abram made the same point - Eros is gravity. I love how a good yoga class and savasana can summon brilliant insights that we can only “know” with our bodies. I was struck by that exact same point in Ted Gioia’s essay.
Thanks for those glorious photos! 💚
Thank you! I could go on and on about the obsession with outer space but I suspect you’re feeling something similar ☺️
totally
I love this idea! And those photos!