Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
It is time for regeneration. Nests of new life in satiny shells — white, blue, green, pink, yellow, speckled, mottled, striped and solid. No doubt our urge to paint chicken eggs for the late spring holidays is inspired by the wondrous works of art in every nest. And it’s also not surprising that humans have… Continue reading Spring Eggs
I wrote the core of this decades ago, when I was a different person. But it seemed relevant this year... or maybe it's always been. man's loyalty they lay their robes at his feet they sang glories to his name they waved supple fronds in adulation hailing the new king — the moon waxed full… Continue reading Palm Sunday
I listen to quite a lot of music. Not much of it feels rooted or even connected to Earthly life. I'm beginning to wonder if many of our problems stem from an inability to celebrate what is life-affirming. Maybe we need an aesthetic of the hearth and home, of the constant and congenial and communitarian.… Continue reading We Need New Songs…
Common cuckoo (male). National Audubon Society. cuckoo sings out spring changeling in contented nest songs of troth betrayed A poem for 8 April , National Poetry Month, day 8. They say the cuckoo returns in mid-April, its song ushering in the season of growth. I've always found our relationship to this bird to be strange.… Continue reading cuckoo
Someone who needs hope sent me this video from the Kurzgesagt: In a Nutshell folks. The videos produced by these people are generally slick-production info-tainment, generally STEM focused, generally enjoyable and uplifting… but also often just plain wrong. Or perhaps a better descriptor would be to say that the producers present a limited narrative in… Continue reading False Hopes
Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts J. Drew Lanham Hub City Press, 2021 There are at least 94 reasons to fall in love with this 94-page chapbook of poetry and poetic observations by J. Drew Lanham (one of the two black birders at any given birding festival). This singular collection deserves permanent… Continue reading Musing on Sparrow Envy
There was ice on the garden at the beginning of the week. Today, there are snowdrops and crocuses. And honeybees! The bud scales have dropped off the apple trees and the lilacs are beginning to open. I can walk to the mailbox without a coat and I've had the curtains drawn wide all day. I'm… Continue reading The First Flowers of Spring!
The Old Farmer’s Almanac claims that April 5th is Dandelion Day. I’m fairly certain this is not a thing, but it should be. Dandelions are pleasurable in so many ways. Just imagine an early summer lawn dotted with bee-covered smiling suns! And when you need calm, there is nothing better than sitting in the dandelions. In my… Continue reading National Dandelion Day
in this I-am Others outnumber me i breathe green exhalation draw sustenance from soil drink in earth blood my cells are not mine own no boundaries define this body but bound i am in densely woven webs of wonder i need is provided i owe is given and we become one across depths of time… Continue reading bound
he opens his heart to birdsong, feels fizz-prickle of bud fissure — a frisson of eternal expectancy. he hungers for strong summer sun but remains stoic under starlight and spring storm. he yawns limbs unfurled, sends sweet sap down to earth; must pay mycorrhizal newsboys for missed winter tidings — cold comforts for the reluctant… Continue reading the green man goes back to bed
By My Solitary Hearth 