My nephew, Steven, showed up this morning to mow our lawn. The buzz of the mower was such a comforting summer sound. Here in April the sound foreshadow the hot, muggy days of a different season.
We are attuned to the sounds, scents, and sights of nature at such a basic level we seldom notice how we constantly “read” our environment. But all those natural things around us are always speaking to us.
The other morning I heard an interview with Camille T. Dungy, the editor of Black Nature, on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” The piece included several poetic examples. One that caught my attention is both short and unusual. Here it is quoted from the story:
Some of the poems selected don't immediately seem to be about nature. A poem titled "[#12]," from a collection by Evie Shockley called 31 words * prose poems, is written as if it were a classified ad in a newspaper:
highly visual rural winter image seeks lyric poem (14-30 lines) for mutual enrichment and long-term relationship. image offers frostbitten river and fog-covered fields where snow seems to rise toward its origins
What a little jewel of a poem. Nature poetry, like many other artistic renderings of our environment, helps us refocus on the constant stream of “nature checks” we continually process from the world around us. Art is a useful reminder that there is much to enjoy in the natural wonders we have North of the Tunnel.
What are some of your favorite sights, sounds, or odors of nature?
Jonquils in the spring, a hummingbird's beak stuck way down into a Rose of Sharon bloom in the summer, the crunch of leaves under my feet in the fall, and the smell of hot chocolate as a sip it while watching snow fall in the winter.
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