Photo by James Armes on Unsplash
Words Without Meaning
Without the Acorn, there is no oak.
Who wants to live in a world without growth?
The Adder snakes through the grass.
Sibilant like melted glass, it slides past.
The Ash grows tall and strong, tying us together.
Its bark makes rope that binds.
Beech trees shed leaves.
I jumped in those earthy piles in adolescent dreams of exuberance.
Bluebells, litter the woods every year.
Tears falling from springs eternal falls - expressions of hope.
Buttercups - yellow eyes in the grass.
I used to wink at them as I passed by when I was five.
Catkins, drifting on the breeze.
Freezing memories from childhood, inspiring yesterday’s Deja vu.
Conkers smashing. Smashing good fun!
Cowslip, fragrant in summer meadows.
Wild reminders of summer days, before memories faded.
Cygnets on the park lake.
Throwing bread to create ripples on the mirrored surface.
Dandelions, edible secret weeds.
Leaves, flowering sunburst.
Ferns rock back and forth, dancing on wind-blown moor.
Standing - uncertain.
Hazel-nuts fed the fathers of your great great great grandfathers
and mothers before you were beyond born.
Heather shades grouse and field mouse.
Shivering in the bare bones of peat bog loam.
The Heron, still in meditation.
Perfect fisherman, lightning quick, lancing home razor-sharp bill.
Ivy hugs the Oak, creating winter habitats
for Robin, Sparrow and chittering Chaffinch.
Kingfishers, flash iridescent.
Before plunging through watery shallows to slake hunger.
The Lark starts the morning chorus,
a cacophony of awakening in bird born serenading of the dawn!
Mistletoe wraps hawthorn, a parasitic embrace.
Drinking in sun-kissed chloroform from leaf and bow.
Nectar collected by the Honey bee...
sacrosanct!
The Newt lives beneath the earth
apart from in birth when venturing forth.
Sleek Selkie of the stream.
The Otter dreams patterns in aqua!
We all get put out to Pasture, eventually.
Having lived the dream of that stream, having followed in that flow.
Photo by Andy Chilton on Unsplash
Poetic Inspiration...
Back in 2018 the Junior Oxford English Dictionary decided not to reinstate 23 words relating to nature which had been removed.
The petition linked above really struck a chord with me and I decided to write a poem using the 23 words which were removed (see above). I didn't have to look up any of the words, which are Italicized and in bold, and when I thought about it, I know that I learnt all of these words as a child with the exception of Catkins.
Why Does it Matter?
Too often, our needs and development as a species take center stage at the expense of nature. I am not expressing an opinion here, it is simply a fact. Whether it be the destruction of vitally important tropical jungle habitats in Indonesia for palm oil production, or in Brazil for the lumber industry, the evidence is right there if you look.
Without awareness of nature or the wonder of the creatures and habitats around them, our children may not even care when they see these things being destroyed. The Junior Oxford English Dictionary is one of the books children learn the words they use to describe the world around them, at least in the UK.
How can you save something when you don't even know the words to describe what you're seeing?
Why would you care about failing ecosystems when you don't know the names of the flowers, the birds and the bees?
Thanks for reading 🙂🌿
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