Friday, September 2, 2022

Nature Photography Poetic Gifts


Yesterday, my son and I sat in rocking chairs overlooking the beautiful grounds of the Salamander Resort in Virginia while waiting for his birthday luncheon on the patio. Nature played its part in making the wait enjoyable in such a peaceful setting. Instead of simply sharing the original photograph, I added an artistic touch to the tranquil scene with Prisma, a digital app.

Recently, I received a package from my last summer poem swap mate, Patricia Franz. We share a love of nature, photography, poetry, and digital art. Patricia’s poem swap has elements of the above components. Her note states, "Visual & text imagery to envision "the layered history of forests all around us." There is a quote from Barbara Faurot, The Magic of Duff in the Wildlife Garden. Click on https://jcmgf.org/the-magic-of-duff-in-the-wildlife-garden/ to read more about duff.
Leaves, bud scales, twigs, needles, fruits, and bark fragments all accumulate on the ground to form a layer of debris know as "duff." The duff layers, a few inches above the soil is one of the most vibrant and biodiverse part of the forest or garden...Duff is protection, and, in a way, the layered history of the forest around it.

Patricia shared her image poem on duff followed by a longer poem. Since I have never heard about duff, the content was interesting to me from an environmental point of view. 


Patricia also sent me a nature-inspired greeting card with an inspirational quote.
Imagine my surprise when I found the following quote written by Shakespeare: "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 

Another poet friend, Marcie Atkins, is a nature photographer finding earth's beauty and shares it through her haiku project. Marcie sent me some of her haiku postcards during the same time period I received Patricia's swap. 

Marcie's card below provides me some wisdom to end my long day.

I pause and listen to the night sounds even though I cannot see into the dark woods across the street. When I lean into nature, I feel its nurturing ways. 

night sounds
squeak, call, hoot,
penetrate the woods
darkness hovers
I listen in peace

With pleasure, I share the nature photography poetic gifts sent to me and remind you to pause as I just did. 

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

I am looking forward to adding my post to the Poetry Friday Roundup so I will move over to my poet friend, Linda Baie, who is hosting this week. Her poem about students moving into a new threshold is accompanied by a delightful sketch.

Nature photo by Linda Baie, 2022

9 comments:

  1. I'm happy I checked twitter before going offline, Carol, & there you were! Your post is filled with beauty, paying attention, as Marcie shared, when we pause! Happy Birthday to your son. I'm glad you had the time to celebrate together! Wishing you a lovely weekend, Carol!

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  2. I'm so glad you had a nice birthday lunch with your son. I had to send my boy 19 happy birthday texts to him at college. It's all good. But, wow! duff. I've not heard of it before. How fascinating and then...how much more beautiful the photo. I must go find some woods, right now!

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  3. So much to think about the insulating, living layer that is duff...and yet my reverie is repeatedly interrupted by hearing my Long Island-born dad say, "and I fell right on my duff!" But it turns out that duff has about a million slang meanings, so maybe I'll still to the science one! Glad you've been so blessed by your swaps!

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  4. So glad you got the poetry postcards! More to come soon!

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  5. What a rich and lovely post Carol, so many treasures here. I like how Patricia's second poem circles around at the end to the beginning again, and ends with, "so the forest might find itself again." Marcie's haiku postcards are delightful. Thanks also for the lovely image you painted in your "night sounds" poem!

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  6. Carol, I love that you see connections across this entire post/experience...from sitting and waiting with your son at lunch, to our shared joy in learning about a forest, to Marcie's pause, to your "I listen in peace". Me, too!

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  7. What lovely gifts, and a great reminder to PAUSE.

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  8. Nature does bring us to those moments of pause, don't they? This is such a peaceful post, Carol. Lovely gifts of poems from your friends.

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  9. Some lovely gifts here, Carol. And I like the Night Sounds, too.

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