fruits o' roots

this morning I awoke to the sounds of nature out the open window,

such a pleasant and gentle way to greet the day!
first open window night of the season here in the northeast...
which led me to thinking about nature and our connection with it.
'it' is not separate from us.
we are among nature,
we interact with nature.
it's the noticing of this interaction that varies,
but I believe nature is always speaking to us
and is a very wise teacher.

take Roots for example.
for some reason I made pannakakku for the first time ever, and then came across a box of 'finn crisp' at a store recently,
so I was feeling more in touch with my own family heritage and
where I come from.
a friend pointed out that this little maple here was not growing in a good spot
and suggested we replant it somewhere more fitting.
like this little maple tree, perhaps as human beings we can all relate to the desire to receive guidance and encouragement to bloom in our optimal environment... with space,
to reach our branches to the sky and show our array of color...
and also to reach deep for our nourishment and centeredness...
and some of us, like the rhododendrons we also just planted,
take a while to allow their roots to branch out from their root ball,
but once they do, become quite hardy.


Poetry, A Natural Thing
~by Robert Duncan in The Opening of the Field

Neither our vices nor our virtues
further the poem. "They came up

and died
just like they do every year

on the rocks."

The poem
feeds upon thought, feeling, impulse,

to breed itself,
a spiritual urgency at the dark ladders leaping.

This beauty is an inner persistence


toward the source
striving against (within) down-rushet of the river...