On Top
Gary Snyder
All this new stuff goes on top
turn it over, turn it over
wait and water down
from the dark bottom
turn it inside out
let it spread through
sift down even.
Watch it sprout.
A mind like compost.
My town is the self-proclaimed limestone capital of the world—and despite it being very chamber of commerce, there is some truth to the phrase. At the height of the industry seventy five years ago, there were some truly talented carvers, as you can see from the work in Green Hill Cemetery.
Clive Thompson says there is a biophilia paradox—and I could not disagree more.
The problem is that while we moderns desperately need exposure to nature, it sure doesn’t need exposure to us. … We humans should be living a little more densely, to give nature more space away from us.
It goes without saying that humanity is the single most destructive force on earth. Nevertheless, ideas like this only serve to reify the human-nature divide—the very divide that led us onto the path of destruction. Our current way of relating to the world is not the only way.
Our problem is that we are out of relationship with the world. This problem will only be exacerbated by further separating us from it. Thompson’s vision is a carceral environmentalism. We are not dangerous felons who must be isolated from the natural world. We are children of the same mother.
Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections:
Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away—an ephemeral apparition., When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost a sense of something that lives and endures underneath the eternal flux. What we see is the blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains.
Here’s the question that matters: what would you do if you believed the world around you was alive—alive every bit as much as you are?
This is cool: collage artist turns a corner store into an art experience. Things like this can only happen with local shops. Walmart and Dollar General will never do this.
Been playing with the bird sound identification feature of Merlin Bird ID this morning. We’re in town so we have a bit more limited variety of birds. It’s correctly identified the usual cast of characters:
- European starlings
- House sparrow
- American robin
- Chimney swift
- Northern cardinal
- Mourning dove
- House finch
We built a new raised bed this week. That’s not a trick of perspective: it actually is much narrower at the far end. On this end is a mound (hard to see) for a three sisters planting. Past that is amaranth, then two columbine plants at the far end.
Sometimes I remember. Sometimes I feel the magic.
Amen, Parker.
If you’re still holding out hope that renewable energy is the future, you might want to read this.