Weather changes the most familiar paths:
Snow buries landmark stones.
Deep puddles block the trail
From boots and paws.
Fallen trees bar the way.
Today the ground
Crumbles under my step
And my foot is suspended
Above the cracking path
I’m surprised,
But it’s not the first time
I've stepped on a frost heave.
For a moment I enjoy
Pretending that the Earth is giving way,
Opening
And I will fall through
And fall
And fall
Into an unimagined abyss.
My eyes open.
I'm standing on the trail
My right foot is crooked,
But cupped by the sustaining earth.
Eyeing the ground.
I seek out more frost heaves,
Step on them lightly
To feel the crust breaking
Reliving the perilous moment
When everything below fell away.
wandering
Early Spring Haiku
Not really feeling like spring today in Southern New England! Pretty good sized snowstorm passing through. But I liked the image that these kigo words gave me: Shallow Spring, bush warblers and returning cold.
I tried to work today’s weather in, but it couldn’t happen. The image I chose is one that I have been noticing for several weeks: flocks of small birds in bushes by the trail. They’re a fun and refreshing sight.
Shallow Spring invites
bush warblers; returning cold
can't diminish songs.
Thanks as always to #tankatuesday
A challenge from nature and poetry
I love a challenge but this one was initially daunting. At tankatuesday, we were given a mission to write a bussokusekika, a Japanese form that is generally found at a specific Buddhist temple. It was challenging enough to write 3 verses with a 575777 syllable count, but I also wanted to honor its spiritual roots.
Luckily I had just taken a hike that provided an perfect image. Nature being a place of great spirit, I thought that this was fitting.
I stop on the path
That ice has taken over
A giant puddle
That stretches into the woods
And covers the trail forward
Ahead thin ice blocks the way
These woods are our home.
The right of the path slopes up
Boundary to ice
Water cannot puddle there.
I gaze through tangled branches
I look for a way through trees
Anna cracks through ice
She shakes a wet paw and turns
Following my steps
I find a path through branches
A way through brush sticks and stones
A soft trail through leaves and loam.
Kimo and Kigo
The #tankatuesday challenge this week is to write 3 Kimo poems, which have 10/7/6 syllables. Kimo is an Israeli version of the Haiku. The Kigo phrases we were tasked to use are “buying a new calendar”, “winter desolation”, and “trimming the Christmas tree”.
Buying a new calendar wondering
If measuring time causes
Me to lose sight of life.
Frostscapes, snowscapes, beaten down winter paths.
My winter playground, someone's
Winter desolation
Kicking the doorjamb knocks snow off my boots
I bring holly branches for
Trimming the Christmas tree
This poem shows a couple of my thought processes/ philosophies. I do often wonder how measured time puts artificial boundaries on my life. It is hard to shake the conditioning of the hours, days, weeks, months and years. Especially since I work at a school, with the Pavlovian bells ringing each period. I have no idea how to escape this cycle, but I do wonder about the impact of it.
When I saw “Winter desolation” I immediately knew I would flip that on its head. I love winter, especially snowy ones. I enjoy skiing and snowshoeing, but honestly winter hikes are all I need. Me and Anna the dog on the trails, crisp air and unlimited vistas.
Here is a link to my new poetry book, Self of Steam
Great Pond State Forest
The cover of my poetry book Self of Steam is a picture I took at Great Pond State Forest. The pond was iced over, and the reflection of the forest was ghostly. I thought the picture evoked the title of the book, and the spirit of the poem that it is named after.
Click the cover to purchase my book from Amazon.
I call the tall tree in the upper center of the picture “Great Tree”. I came up with this name to reflect its location by Great Pond, but also because I believe it is the tallest tree in the forest. I like to stand underneath it, appreciating its thick bole and impressive height.
Anna and I went to see our friends today. The above video gives a sense of how towering Great Tree is.
This is Brain Rock. Another of my friends in the woods. I like to stop and visit with both of them. They remind me to slow down, clear my thoughts, and appreciate what is around me.
“Great Pond” from my book Self of Steam
This is the beginning of my poem “Great Pond”. I visit Great Pond State Park frequently, as it is a five minute drive from my house. So when Anna and I took a rain hike there today, I felt like I should post from the poem I wrote about an epic hike we took there one time.
Great Pond
I am dressed for a hike
In the sunlight.
My gear is made for a crisp
November 52 degrees.
Long sleeve dry weave,
Solid hiking pants.
5 minutes in it’s raining.
Sure the shirt is wicking water,
But it’s not made for the heavy stuff.
And 52 in the rain is different,
Than 52 in the sun.
The rain stops.
I step along and look up.
Contrasting cloud greys:
Dense scudders looming dark
Against
The eggshell white background.
5 minutes later
More rain, heavy at times.
I laugh as the dog and I
Are getting soaked.
I laugh because I believe we should laugh
Humans should laugh
When we’re getting soaked,
Especially if it’s
On a relatively warm day
And a car not far away.
Even if it’s 2020.
Especially if it’s 2020
5 minutes later it’s hail:
Small pellets,
Hat bill clickers,
Rock tickers,
Ricocheting off trees onto me.
Not big enough to hurt the dog.
Again I grin,
A little more fiercely,
Since unannounced winter is here.
Want more? The adventure continues in my book Self of Steam available from Amazon!
Fallow
I always believe my summer break from teaching will lead to creative productivity. Many years it has, and I have created numerous pieces, and started many more.
This summer was different. I just wasn’t feeling it. It took a lot of effort to even post occasionally here.
In my defense, I did format a book of poetry that I want to publish. Well, mostly format. When uploading books to Amazon, a .pdf file is a good format to use. Unfortunately, editing a .pdf costs money to Adobe, and the editing interface is clunky and the opposite of intuitive.
Continue readingTao Lesson #3
I’ve been thinking about these ideas a lot recently:
Prevent trouble before it arises. Put things in order before they exist. The giant pine tree grows from a tiny sprout. The journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath your feet.
I tend to get a good idea, and rush into action with it. Although I get a lot accomplished, not having a clear plan can be a problem. When I hit a roadblock, it can take away my momentum, stalling the project.
If instead I had taken the time for a little planning, I may have anticipated the problems that could arise.
The second half is a tough lesson for me. Maybe I feel like I’m too far down the road of my journey to revert to having origin thoughts. I’m trying to see how this lesson applies to any new venture we embark on, even if it is an offshoot of something we have already been doing.
Looking at projects and problems as if they just began, or are constantly beginning. Original mind. I think this is something to try for, though I am not quite sure how to go about it.
Tao Lesson #1
I thought I’d share some of my favorite passages from Tao Te Ching and add a commentary about why they are important to me.
Here’s the first:
The Tao is like a well: Used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: Filled with infinite possibilities.
This passage always leads me to two places: energy and creativity.
Whenever I am low on energy, I remember this lesson. All the energy, power or inspiration I need is already there, inside me. The question is: will I tap into this energy, or let the drowsy feelings of being tapped out decide for me?
Continue readingWe follow nature
Last weekend we got about 4 inches of rain overnight. When I went on a hike, and saw what’s in this video, I thought “Funny how the water followed the path.”
My mind immediately alerted me to a potential fallacy. A “which came first” idea presented itself. Isn’t it more likely that water made this path? Rain overflow creates little streams, especially in the spring. Some are freshets, have a relatively deep bed, and can run for months if its a wet season. Not great for a path.
But a lot of time there are washes for when a big storm overflows the system of ponds and streams and rivulets, and more water runs off. As water always does, it tends to gather and find a way to flow down. I’m thinking these are the path makers: yes they get wet, but only briefly, and dry fairly quickly, which means we can walk on them most of the time.
Humans are smart, and you can also say we’re either thrifty or a bit lazy. It is far easier to follow a path given to us by nature than to have to hack a new path through its bushes, trees and tangles.
So my new thought is: “Look how we follow that path of water.”
Mark Bozeman 