Field Notes: Winter 2022/2023

Threshold

Under the weight of ice and snow,
saplings bend, touching the earth,
a threshold to
yet another invitation
to slow time,
to admire what surrounds me.

Passing through,
our walk becomes more beautiful.

Reclaiming prayer

Prayer used to look like this: my eyes closed, head bowed, hands folded while someone addressed a male god.

Today prayer looks like this: my eyes open, face to the sky, arms outstretched while I lie in the snow, feeling the earth beneath me, breathing in awe, breathing out gratitude.

After eight inches of heavy, wet snow

Along the trail I find bent saplings, the ends of their branches buried in snow. I tug to release them, and the young trees spring back. What’s weighing me down? I wonder. What do I want to release?

Winter maple

Pairs of small, tight buds
with sharp points
contain what they need for this year’s growth.

Wrapped in protective scales,
they wait
for the tree’s knowing.

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Late Winter 2022/2023 – Not in miles or minutes; Birdsongs and heartsongs; Postcard to the Woods; Desktop spring

Fall 2022 – A just-right angle; Not so Common Milkweed; Will they come true?; En route to the forest floor; I can’t just call them all brown; I wonder if their encounter was a poem

Late Summer 2022 – My amended reply; Bird voices; Looking out. Looking in.; Palmate instead of red

Summer 2022 – For the beauty of this walk; Woodpecker rhythm; Elliptic-leaved Shinleaf; The service I want to honor

Spring 2022 – Wings; Pink joy of spring; Wondering: One walk, one afternoon; A new-to-us trail; Companions after a sleepless night

Winter 2021/2022 – Breadcrumbs; But then, so when, and then; Winter visitors; My inner three-year-old meets ice; Tender hope, holy beauty