Vista

The view is always worth the climb. Surveying the land around you from heart to horizon. Being high up brings perspective. Peering out from up high is as close to flying as a creature without wings can get. #19 of NaPoWriMo2024.

Vista
Wista
Ledge of the world
All makes sense from here.
Wonders at our feet
Heavy breath, heartbeat.
We are not planted
Freedom to explore
Hike when you’re young
Remember when your old
Hills are old
The hills are alive
with the music of the wind
as the eagle flies
with his eagle eyes
so can I,
Fly!

Eye

Spirituality is so present in nature. Trees and their underground network feel old and wise. This “eye” in a Maple tree took me down a contemplative journey. Explore with all your “eyes.” #18 NaPoWriMo2024.

Eye
Clairvoyance
Divine omniscience.

Eye of Sauron
Vigilance
Perception.

Watcher in the woods
Baba Yaga
Have I strayed from home?

Crone foresight
Insight
Speaker of truth.

Solar Eye of Isis
Pupil and iris
Life giving rain
Inundation back from her travels.

Lunar eye of Horus
Protection and healing
Seeing by moonlight.

Mona Lisa eyes
Door of the soul
Deep communication
The golden number.

Eye of Maple
Love and loyalty
Wounded tree with wisdom.

Second sight into the world of your spirit
See with your third eye – open
Layers and layers.

Alice down the rabbit hole
Fairy door
Shadow work.

Pause, 
Face the forest eye
Prayer hands
Thumbs to forehead
Eyelids closed
Perceive.

Everything is a Waste of Time

My boyfriend, Chris, quipped this gem of a line last night when I was worrying over not getting chores done after a lovely evening well spent walking in the woods and a chance dinner with friends. He is right. In the grand scheme of the universe or even something much smaller like a human life, nothing is really “worth” time. It is somehow freeing to think of everything as a waste of time. It makes choosing the fun stuff over productive tasks all the same. Enjoy your weekend and the poem (and the birds).

Everything is a Waste of Time

It’s all a waste of time

like watching birds

and listening to the wind

but

such a sweet waste of time.

There is nothing really worthy of precious fleeting minutes, days

So, we might as well choose joyful pursuits.

Life after Death by Chaos Design

Sometimes deep thoughts spring to mind on a nature walk. A sapling growing in a dead driftwood pile got me thinking about life growing out of death. Leave room for pondering on your walks. #16 of NaPoWriMo2024.

Life after Death by Chaos Design

The universe is made to churn
Berry bushes from ashes
Mineral rich volcanic earth feed sheep
Trees growing from fallen nurse logs.

New life springs from destruction
for new life needs room and rot.
The four eroding elements
wind, water, fire, ice
clearing the way
toppling, leveling
creating building blocks.

Earth came from destruction
was made better when the moon
coalesced from debris
and clung to the big blue marble
Orbiting, stabilizing
and yet 
is moving away,
leaving us,
for there is no constant.

Out of chaos
comes opportunity
Sentient life came from opportunity
adaptation.
We are smaller than grains of sand
perched precariously on a rock spinning just so 
in a vast sea of chaos.
We live like the spring wildflowers
poking up from leaf litter and snow melt
careful not to get caught up 
in our own god complex
thinking we are anything but a gain
tossed in the winds of construction and destruction.

Roundleaf Kittentail

Another sweet name for a darling wild flower eliciting a sweet little poem. So much to see from a nature trail. 15^th poem for NaPoWriMo2024.

Roundleaf Kittentails

Kittentails held high out of needle-litter.

Content and confident as their happy namesakes.

Purple bells ring a silent jingle on tail-tip as we brush past.

Trail buddies in spring dappled light

that filters through the sky stretched conifers of the Pacific Northwest.

Purr sweet wild babies,

purr, as I dip my head low to greet you.

Walking by Edibles

Learning about edible/tea-able weeds, enhances my nature walk experience (and fills my tea tins.) Do your research and don’t over do it as some weeds have a history as powerful natural remedies. I didn’t learn Salal was edible until after this hike. It doesn’t look edible. None of them do, I guess, until you get to know them. My favorite for weed tea is Wild Bergamot.

Walking by Edibles

Salal
Easy to draw the eye
Pretty shiny leaves
Dangling Heart flowers 
It is everywhere
Walls of coastal trail
like a green hug
brush up against them to slough off worries
Give it to the green and glow
Take it in nibbles
Superfood lives in “weeds”
Berries and greens
Vitamins, minerals, even antioxidants.
Wild Bergamot,
Ramps,
Heal-All,
Plantain weed seeds. 
Dandelions. 
Taste your hike.

 

Fairy Slipper

A beautiful flower with such a name, must have a poem. 13th poem in my nature walk series for NaPoWriMo2024. Enjoy the wild flowers on your hikes.

Fairy Slippers

Silky slippers

for tiny fairy feet

Pretty in pink

for pretty pink toes

Honey scented Calypso perfume

aflutter with delicate wings

Flitting from spring bud to green limb

Happy fairy giggles

Spy them with your eye

poking up through woodsy floors.

Snake Heebie Jeebies

My snake heebie jeebies are so strong that i can hardly look at the photo or stand it being in my photo library. Ish. Hope you find humor in the poem and in our unreasonable fears.

Snake Heebie Jeebies

What gives you the heebie jeebies?
For me it is snakes.
Spiders and bats are fine
Mice, squirrels, cute,
but a visceral reaction to snakes.
Even the shape or suggestion of a snake elicits heebie jeebies.
Somewhere in my genetic history
was snake trauma.
Full body reaction
even my small bit of Welsh Celt
shivers it’s timbers.
(And, Celts saw snakes as symbols of long life and renewal.)
Nope, not me, and I suspect many of you. 
It’s no wonder the bible used a snake to embody evil.
They’re creepy and sneaky and slithery.
Their shed skin happened upon in a rhubarb patch elicits jump back and squeal with disgust and fear.  
Irrational for someone who lives where there are no poisonous varieties?
Yes, yes, it is. 

Cedar Wonder

Poem 11 of Glo/NaPoWriMo. It would be hard to pic a favorite tree variety. They all have special gifts like the cedar. Enjoy the poem!

Cedar Wonder

Sister and I had cedar trees 
outside our bedroom window.
We saw them on swampy hikes
near the family cabin.
Their reddy wood is slow to rot,
maybe that’s why it resists bugs,
lining hope chests
or, as mine was called, “hopeless chest.”
Sometimes cedars twist as they grow,
one foot wetter than the other.
Their bark is a bit shaggy and stripey,
usually straight seams
drawing your eye up, up, up
to their full looming height.
Cedar wood smells good too
when cut or burned.
Natives used cedar for ceremonies
so it must be holy,
good for smoke smudges
and simple walk-through smudges.
They’re evergreen,
handy for Christmas swags
and winter hikes before
deciduous trees leaf out. 
I often say “tree is ‘man’s best friend,”
certainly, the cedar is a great
human helper and friend. 

Ocean Soul-Massage

10th poem of Glo/NaPoWriMo – catching up on Nature Walk theme photos from my Oregon trip. There is something so healthy and reviving about being on an ocean beach. This poem explore why that might be. Enjoy!