Category: poem
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Endings
For this final post on our recent winter trip to Yellowstone, I share a poem that Melissa wrote on a previous trip and read to our group while snowshoeing one day. It seems like an appropriate ending for this incredible journey. Yellowstone (a poem by Melissa Dowland) I want so much To connect ever Read more…
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Cypress Cities
Visit the only bald cypress blackwater swamp habitat in Wake County and you will feel like you’ve stepped back through the ages. ~from Robertson Millpond Preserve brochure, Wake County Parks and Recreation I finally had a weekend “off” and was able to join Melissa and Megan on a Museum educator workshop, Find Your Muse on Read more…
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Longleaf Lost
The power of the ocean in what does it lie? In the endless, timeless roar of the surf? In the immense vistas – the view to the end of the world? In the glowing spray as it diffuses the light of the rising sun? In the power and mystery of its dark depths? No matter— Read more…
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Joy in Parting
What Joy Can There Be In Parting? ~A poem by Melissa Dowland; images by Mike Dunn The bluebird perched on the branch right in front of me. I could see his sharp beak, his rusty breast, his snow-white belly. Then he turned And became a dazzle of blue as he flew between the trees and Read more…
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Red-belly
Red-belly ~A poem by Melissa Dowland, images by Mike Dunn Down in my woods grows a graceful old oak With a stout trunk and a crown of branches, Splitting like feathers, reaching for the sky. It has stood, thus, for centuries. Nearby, a smaller maple. Its crown lost in an ice storm, A few broken Read more…
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Now, More Than Ever
A poem for the new year, accompanied by a short video clip of a sunrise with tundra swans at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last week. May we all find peace in the coming year. The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me Read more…
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Follow the Nuthatch
Another of Melissa’s poems about birds (and one of the few rhyming ones she has written)… Follow the Nuthatch by Melissa Dowland When searching for a bird of prey On a fall or winter’s day Never trust the noisy titmice Only the nuthatch will suffice. The titmouse is a busy soul Forever making a dreadful Read more…
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Swamp’s Sentinels
Here’s another of Melissa’s poems that she read at the recent Poetry with Wings event at the NC Botanical Garden (paired with some of my images from our trips on the Roanoke River) … Swamp’s Sentinels by Melissa Dowland In the blackwater swamp The creeks are lined With cypress-sentinels Left whole by the loggers— Because Read more…
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Poetry with Wings
There was a poetry reading yesterday at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill entitled Poetry with Wings. As part of the Garden’s Saving Our Birds programming initiative this Fall, five local poets were invited to read poems that touch on birds in some way It was a wonderful event with a wide range Read more…
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Following the Nuthatch
I recently had a discussion with someone about sitting quietly in nature and just observing your surroundings as a way to relax, increase your observation skills, and just get in tune with a natural place. It reminded me of a project I had heard about several years ago called The Sit Spot. There are various Read more…
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Roads End Naturalist 