Hello Dear Friends,
I want to take a moment to re-introduce myself as a new wave of subscribers have arrived in the past week. I have
I’m Ash Kilback, the founder of Poetry Outdoors. I write to you from a small lake town in the middle of the Canadian Prairies. I took to the walking path a few years ago to let nature mend the inner workings of my frayed and far-stretched nervous system. Step-by-step, I came back into the practice of writing poetry and began to restore my own relationship with the natural world.
Poetry Outdoors is my loving contribution to the natural world as a response to the ecological and climate crises we are facing. Together, we will use poetry as a bridge that extends between ourselves and the natural world to restore and regenerate our relationship to the earth.
This Sunday, we begin a new tradition of gathering a reservoir of nature-inspired poetry to replenish our spirits.
Every Sunday, I invite you to share a nature poem that you love in the comments (it can be one that you wrote or one by an author you love) and I will compile them into a collection that we can read and carry with us into the week ahead.
This week’s collection: We Are Made of All This
Worker Bees
- James A. Pearson
I wonder if you can pause—
just for a moment
—the emergency of your life
and step out
into the quiet of the world.Hear how gently it conveys
the delicate thread of birdsong,
how quickly it can soothe
the rupture of a passing jet.
Feel its vast, smiling invitation
to rest back into
the person you’ve been all your life.Listen now–
the poppies bursting
out over the sidewalk
are electric with bees.
Look how they bury their bodies
in flower after flower, drunk
on their longing for the world.Maybe that’s the real work: to fall
over and over
into the scent of what you love.
Fluent
- John O’Donohue
I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.
Eagle Poem
- Joy Harjo
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can't see, can't hear,
Can't know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren't always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
Poetry Circle Updates
I have decided to shift our first poetry circle to July 20th. Read more and register here:
Help build our communal reservoir of nature-inspired poetry. Share a nature poem that you love to be featured for next week’s collection.
You got me tearing up over here. I’m so happy to hear that you benefited some from that thread ♥️ Enjoy the newfound readership that you absolutely deserve.
The peace of wild things for July: Here is my July poem:
July is Yellow
Deep in the heart of summer
July shines yellow
Flowers turn cadmium
Days slow to mellow
Stellas wink and nod off
To the music of lassitude
Tawny afternoons
Slip quietly by
The sun sinks into egg yolk
As evenings fade to gold
Mustard Yarrow hides against a fence
Coreopsis whispers bold
Lemon dreams on hold
Dripping shades of yellow
Fair blooms on ripe vines
Slow-down time
Lush grass nuzzle the minutes
With soft slumber
Lethargia of assuming
Nothing
Inertia attained
by Annette Gagliardi
*Published in the 2018 Texas Poetry Calendar, Kallisto Press, 2018.