Tag Archives: working through issues

Individual Responsibility Environmentalism: Free Verse

I’m called tree hugger,
greener,
environmentalist,
eco-warrior.

I call myself
those names, too.
But when I see
red-faced screamers
demanding that
governments and nations
make accords,
do something,
force compliance,
I back away.

Giving government
more power
is not where I’ll waste
my waste-fighting
eco-warrior
energies.

Haven’t we learned
from Muir,
Thoreau,
Leopold,
and others?

They DID,
and they wrote
about what they DID.
Movements started
with the power of
DOING,
with the power
of words.

They introduced others
to the beauty
and wonder
and peace,
and joy
found in God’s Creations,
in Mother Nature.

They partnered
with God,
with Nature,
to help folks,
the common man and woman,
feel love for
and wonder at
all God’s creations.

Because how will I
partner with,
love,
and protect
a creation
I’ve never experienced?

This was prompted by an essay on individual responsibility in environmentalism.

What I’m Willing To Do: Haiku Response

Backstory: A poetess, Mimi Allin, posted this question on Facebook (a question which, I think, all creative people face):

what are you willing to do
for peace
what are you willing to do
for love
what are you willing to do
for money
what are you willing to do
for art
In response, I wrote this haiku:
For peace, love, and art
I will do how I’m inspired.
For money? I’ll trust.

, 

Connect To Earth Reground Rebound: Free Verse

I trod,
barefoot,
 to connect to Earth,
Feel her energy,
Heal
and be healed.
Then, Western medicine
Told me not to,
So I stopped.
My energy
And mind
And soul
And body
Got confused,
Out of synch,
Out of harmony.
I felt ill.
Now I’m back,
Feet firmly rooted again,
Feeling connected
and at peace.
When God
and Nature
and Mother Earth
speak to you,
Pay attention
And keep going.
Don’t you think
Father and Mother know best?

Daughter’s Micro-Trash Chastisement: Haiku

My daughter ripped me/
about my land’s micro-trash./
Now, pockets are filled.

Backstory: A few years ago, my daughter came to live at our house in NW Georgia. Our objective at Spirit Tree FarmsSpirit Tree Farms is to create a place of peace and healing, where folks can come and connect with Nature, tap into their God-inspired creativity, #FindNatureJoy.

One day, as she and I were walking in the woods and fields, she turned to me and basically called me out, saying something like: “This place is not what you’re trying to have it be. It’s not peaceful. There’s no Zen here.” Taken by surprise, I asked her, honestly, what she meant. She pointed around and said (I’m paraphrasing) :”You come out here and leave plastic bottles and pieces of paper and shreds of plastic bags. You say you’ll clean them up later, but you don’t. You’re trying to partner with the Earth, and have Earth and this land be a healing place, but there’s micro-garbage everywhere. It doesn’t work!”

I looked around and saw that she was right. Ribbons of torn plastic, busted milk jugs once used for watering native plants but now falling apart and useless, plastic bottle caps, pieces of paper, all were interwoven with the very plants, trees, grasses, and wildflowers we were trying to grow! I was not being authentic at all! 

Since then, because of her ripping on me, I’ve been much more aware of micro-trash on our land and elsewhere. Does it still exist? Sure! It’s micro-trash, and despite my Boy Scout, nature observation and trash-pick-up training, I do miss things. (And having the neighbor’s dogs and local racoons and birds get into bags and boxes and shread and spread things doesn’t help!) But it’s a lot better than it was. 

I used to come back from my nature observation and grounding walks in the woods and fields with bags of micro-trash. Now, it’s rare if I fill up my pockets with litter.

I hope my daughter is proud of my efforts. I’m certainly grateful for her example and chastisement!  In fact, I sent her a text with this haiku, then said:

I’m always thankful every time I pick up a piece of micro-trash in my yard, for your chastisement and vital lesson. Thank you.

A grateful Dad

After all, if we expect Mother Earth to heal us, we have to be partners with her, and help heal her. And we can all, always, do better.

I Need A New Pruning Hook: Peace Prayer Haiku

As we pray for peace,
I think to myself: “I could
use a pruning hook.”
——-
The Muse for this was a prose piece written by Kate Phillips on Facebook:

“There is no Christmas in Bethlehem this year.
The tours and pilgrimages have all been cancelled. The streets are bare, the shops empty.
The Palestinian residents are in mourning. Celebrations have been replaced with a somber peace vigil and prayer service to mourn for the tens of thousands of people—mostly Gazans, mostly women and children—lost in the Israeli-Hamas conflict.
The traditional nativity scene at the Evangelical Lutheran church depicts baby Jesus on a pile of rubble, rather than resting in a manger. Instead of gifts, the wise men carry burial shrouds.
Ask anyone in Bethlehem this year what their Christmas wish is, the answer will be the same: they pray for peace.
Whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, a follower of some other tradition (or no religion at all), may we join their prayers. 🙏
May we affirm together that we are all worthy of dignity and love…
That divinity makes it way to earth, hidden in human form…
That the Kingdom of God yearns to flourish within each of us…
And that the best gift we can ask for is the gift of peace for all.
May we practice peace within ourselves…
Within our families and communities…
And pray that, one day, we will beat swords into plowshares.”
— Kate Phillips, Christmas Day, 2023

Longfellow Christmas Day Remake: Peace On Earth Poem and Video

I have few words
This Christmas Day.
There isn’t much
I want to say.
But I’ll pray more,
Knees on the floor,
For peace on Earth,
good will to all.
 
I thought now
That the rain has come,
To solve my gifting
Conundrum,
I’d wish you near,
Those I hold dear,
And peace on Earth,
Good will to all!
 
I miss you all!
Know in my soul,
I wish to speak
So you will know
My deepest hope
For all my folks
Is peace on earth
Good will to all.
 
And if I fail
To talk to you,
Please still believe
My heart is true!
My fervent prayer
Gives love to share
With peace on Earth
Good will to all.
 
Though I may not
Take sorrow away,
Know this: I ask God
For you every day
To bring to you
Christ’s joy that’s true,
And peace on Earth,
Good will to all!
——
With gratitude for Longfellow,
And Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our salvation.
 
 
I Have No Words: Christmas Day Poem in the style of Longfellow’s “I Heard The Bells”.