Category: Nature

Miracle. All of it.

Live & Learn11 Comments

although all things
are present, a

fact a day a
bird that warps the
arithmetic of per-
fection with its

arc, passing again &
again in the evening
air, in the pre-
vailing wind, making no

mistake—yr in-
difference is yr
principal beauty
the mind says all the

time—I hear it—I
hear it every-
where. The earth
said remember

me. I am the
earth it said. Re-
member me.

— Jorie Graham, from “Poem” in Swarm (Ecco Press, 2000). (via Thoughts)

Notes:

  • DK Photo: Gull @ Twilight. October 25, 2024. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT
  • Post Title Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.”

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

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The older I get, the less tolerance I have for affectation or insincerity in all things. It is why I am drawn closer to nature, family, and tradition. Give me the earnest, the true, the real.

— Ryan B. Anderson, @Old Hollow Tree, October 26, 2024

DK Photo. Sunrise. 7:32 a.m. October 27 2024. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.

October in Connecticut

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How suddenly
the woods
have turned
again. I feel
like Daphne, standing
with my arms
outstretched
to the season,
overtaken by color,
crowned
with the hammered gold
of leaves.

— Linda Pastan, “The Months” in October 1999 Issue of Poetry Magazine

DK Photo from Cove Island Park, 6:55 a.m., October 25, 2024. More pictures of October in Connecticut here and here.

Lightly Child, Lightly.

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Every leaf that falls
never stops falling. I once
thought that leaves were leaves.
Now I think they are feeling,
in search of a place—
someone’s hair, a park bench, a
finger. Isn’t that
like us, going from place to
place, looking to be alive?

— Victoria Chang, “Passage” in The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang, published by Copper Canyon Press, 2022. (via Read a Little Poetry)

Notes:

  • Video: InnoRecords (via Pexels)
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.

Exactly the scene at 2:42 a.m.

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Come outside, you laugh. You are
standing on the lawn holding
a bag of shit and the dog leash. You say
look, look at the moon. And I do.

— M. Soledad Caballero, from “When You Go Out to Walk the Dog” in “I Was a Bell“

Notes:

  • Poem Source: Read A Little Poetry
  • DK Photo: Waning Crescent Moon. 40% illumination. 62° F. 2:42 am. August 27, 2024. Darien, CT