Peace (a discovered poem),
Kevin
Monthly Archives: November 2021
Poetry: Fourth Bird In Flight
Poetry: Third Bird in Flight
Poetry: Second Bird in Flight
Poetry: First Bird in Flight
CLMOOC Silent Sunday
Book Review: Campfire Stories (Tales from America’s National Parks)
We bought this book for educators who took part in a Professional Development course through a partnership between Western Massachusetts Writing Project and the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, and then the Pandemic hit, and so we only recently were able to get the book to those past participants because the Springfield Armory was closed up. (We also sort of forgot about the books).
And I finally, too, got my own copy of Campfire Stories: Tales from America’s National Parks, edited by Dave Kyu and Illysa Kyu, and how happy I was to immerse myself in the stories of Acadia, Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Zion, Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks.
Each section opens with an introduction by the Kyus (a married couple) about the park and then they share the research they have done to surface stories of the places, collected from library archives, and oral storytellers, and interviews with Native American elders and more. The editors purposely avoided the dominant stories of these places — the official stories, crafted by park officials — in order to explore other narratives, many from the margins.
This approach – to spend time with forgotten voices — works very well, as the collection of short essays, stories, poems and more bring the reader into the spaces from different angles, always with the awe and inspiration that each of these National Parks bring. I was almost disappointed that they only were able to do this work for six parks, but what a collection of parks!
The Kyus also framed these as “campfire stories” — thus, the title — meaning they chose narratives that could, and maybe should, be read aloud. I know as I read the stories, I could hear the voices of the writers and oral storytellers, and poets, in my my mind. The editors chose their pieces wisely.
This book was a nice addition for me to the Write Out celebration from October, reminding us all how to explore our natural spaces, and our National Parks, through story, remembering that the dominant narratives we often hear and read about spaces is merely the surface of something deeper, and richer, and discovering those voices makes for a grand adventure.
Some quotes:
Peace (in the wild),
Kevin
For All The Lonely Scribes
Slice of Life: Lending Leaves and Making Connections
(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)
I’m not sure how we first got connected with Stan the Fix It Man, or Margie the Leaf Lady, or Henry, or a few others whom we connect with only once a year, during Autumn Leaf Season. To be fair, it was probably my wife who made first contact with all of these folks.
You see, we have leaves. Lots of leaves. And they need leaves, for gardens and trees and more. So once a year, either we reach out to them or they reach out to us, and we make a connection. We also check in with other – making sure all is well — so the transaction becomes more personal, if transitory, and then we’ll get to the business of arranging delivery or pick-up of the two or three dozen or so bags that we will have from the front and back yards of our home.
I visited with Stan the other day, and he was out in his garden, digging up some rhubarb for a neighbor who stood there with him, listening to his instructions on planting and eating the plant, and then he told me, and his neighbor, all about how he wants to use my leaves to protect his Fig tree, and how wonderful fresh figs are off the tree, and how next time I came around, he’d be sure to give me a few fresh figs. He’s doing fine.
Margie let us know that she was battling some infestation of some kind in her garden, where our leaves provide protective cover over the winter, and so she needed a little time to let the frost settle in before prepping her space for our delivery of bags. Our leaves — particularly the maple — are coveted for their richness, I guess. She’s doing fine.
I suppose this is how community is — the small connections that are part of a larger network or fabric, and how even the simple chatter of connection — even only yearly — makes for something worth writing about. It’s easy to cocoon — particularly in a pandemic — but it’s so important to be part of something larger, too.
Yes, I could make connections from this piece to online writing spaces like Slice of Life, too. I hope you are well.
Peace (falling and then, collecting),
Kevin
