THIN AIR

There is nothing so cleansing

as a day spent among trees

with a creek nearby. It is

there you can smell each

shade of green, especially

when an early spring is

birthing new leaves, when

the Dogwoods and Redbuds

throw their shrapnel in

impressionist splashes.

There is something about

the quality of light when

a blazing sun cools itself

wading through a young

canopy and becomes

tangible, thick enough with its

own weight to hold detritus

afloat against the pull of

Mother Earth. Here is a

Poplar lording it over a

surprising Lilac who got lost

out here, but doesn’t seem

to mind. There is no path in

this wild place, so every step

presses a thousand years

into itself with a sigh.

A Grackle sings its loopy

whoop, and way over there

where I cannot see, news of my

coming stirs up a little murder.

But there are rare things, too,

the deer, an owl or snake that

makes me pause and wonder

what I’m supposed to do?

And it makes me think if

God were to suddenly appear,

His feet cooling in the stream,

one arm arcing around,

His eyebrows up, He

would say, “Whatever you do,

don’t wait for beauty.”

Reviews

[Kelly Scheppers]

I've been walking around my block now for nearly two months, hopeful it will benefit my sciatica to some degree. I take pictures of the abundance of beauty you've captured here...the trees, the squirrels I randomly see scurrying about, as well as the crows I hear high in the loftiness of a breeze. The leaves are just beginning to turn and fall. I have no streams around me, but if God were to suddenly appear, I'm certain the blazing sun will cast his presence before me. Perhaps then, my sciatica will heal thyself... well, maybe! Thank you for this one, Vol. It's truly a gem, worth rereading again and again in my book!

[Vol]

Kelly,
It is always special to see your reviews! Thanks for the kind words... I wrote that after getting lost in a rather expansive woods behind my brother's home in North Carolina... I was unable to hear the traffic on the highway, and was deliriously happy knowing civilization would be out there no matter which direction I chose, but I had no idea which way or how far. Loved every minute...
Vol

[Anne Martin]

You've obviously
been in the ravine
behind my house.
Grackles don't
come here often,
but they do come
when there are seeds
in the feeder.
I don't have enough crows
to witness a murder of them,
but be careful
of the hawks above
and the coyotes
at the bottom.
Brown snake at the
bottom of the garden,
black at the top.
Owl at 3 am, 5 pm,
and 11 pm, probably
the same one, but I've heard
another across the street,
hooting back.

Don't mind me. I'm just hooting back.

[Vol]

Anne,
Thank you... There is solace in a forest sans people. So few really bathe in the forest air, and miss so much. I think of New York City with nothing but their Central Park where every blade f grass is curated...
Vol

[Anne Martin]

I won't admit to curating my back yard. :)

[Vol]

Wild women love the forest just as it is... well, except for the occasional cottage...

[Poetic_Vixen]

I felt it when you said "it is there when you smell each shade of green..." it reminds me of waking to seasons just to witness the change of winds through them and the green shaking in my sight, I never felt it so earthy as it did in monsoon but freshly blooming spring with winter's appricity spread upon it hits different, the winds those months feel so light and blossoming as if you yourself are a flower, I dove in these descriptions I owe a lot of ideas to most of your poems that my review can't compete how they good they are sir!

[Vol]

Vixen, (love your choice of pen-name)
Thank you so much! Borrow anything you want of my words, and you have nothing to worry about, you are a poet! Poets have license, you know, we are allowed to say whatever we want, however we want. I read a lot on here and worry because so many have chosen poetry when their license isn't for driving these roads.
I get many of my ideas from other poets. But you had me at "apricity," I had to look it up, a beautiful word that needs to come out in the sunshine a little more often, don't ya think?
And I have a question,. where do you live that there are monsoons? My house is on Rt. 66 in the Texas Panhandle... as close to being a desert as can be and all the weather here is harsh. Humidity at 4-40%, and when the wind blows it can be sixty miles per hour all day... My woodland heart is still in Tennessee.
Vol

[Poetic_Vixen]

I have many times wondered this word 'appricity' has a vague semblance with of poetry, for poetry is just as merry warm ray of light shining through our cold grief, I believe this word needs to be brought out more myself.

I love in the southern part of Asia, a continent surrounded by sea which brings a lot of correalis force and tides bringing oceans precipitation to my city, it rains very merrily here, sometimes off season too like in winters and there is a joy of witnessing streetlights painting roads and crevices of dark alleys with its plasma. Rain makes a beautiful city view at night.

I hope I never run of poetry or the spark that draws me to it, at this point it isn't just about love or grief or war I witness, it is becoming a part of me that I feel restless without no matter my verses may look like scraps only a beginner would think of.

PS:- I'm totally proud of my own name too hehe.

[Poetic_Vixen]

Apricity* and live*

[Pete]

we are meant to be one with nature. thoreau and the transcendentalists believed that god transcends (that is speaks to us and dwells with us through it). you bring all the nature you write of to new life in your words there are many stories and wisdom in nature along with a path to god if we revere it and him no matter.

[Vol]

Pete,
Thanks! Yes and the Romantics understood well the true nature of things, as well as their importance. You know, ever the quantum physicists are coming to the conclusion that the universe is conscious and life is just a natural extension of that as individual particles, atoms, and molecules strive for their own consciousness as part of the whole...
Vol

[Marie]

I adore this most beautifully inked write which captures Mother Nature and all her children superbly in both word and visual detail. I love how a guest of Mother Nature's can actually smell the different shades of green in Springtime as the leaves unfold on the tree and are born. I so enjoyed reading about the different kinds of flowers, birds and all the beautiful animals! If God was to suddenly appear, I think he would say "Love, nourish and protect Mother Nature. Her beauty is all around you!" Wondrous write from your poetic pen, Vol. I so enjoyed reading this little gem and I, thank you for sharing it with me... Lovely work!

[Vol]

Oh, Marie!
Thank you for you kind words! Wild woods must inspire everyone who finds themselves lost and wandering in their depths... (well as long as rescue is sure). I am always more full of life when i return to the real world...
Vol

[Marie]

Most welcome always, Vol...