Collaborative poem

 Here is a copy of the collaborative poem we produced in the woods. Each of us spent a short while walking alone amongst the trees recording words and phrases, we then came together to assemble them into an order which seemed to tell a shared story. One beautiful aspect of writing a collaborative poem in nature is that we all come from our different contexts, with our different stories and perspective yet nature bears the weight of them all and knits them into one reality. The only reality we have, we are held within it. Despite our different perceptions and understandings of the natural world, despite our various anthropomorphic projections, there is an underlining ground of being which is above, within and beyond our partial experiences. We are connected to everything else, in a great chain, as a consequence many minds find coherence in the outdoors in a way they would not in a room, the literal spaciousness allows for an expansive grace.

 

Are the trees lonely?

Surrounded by their kind

But unable to touch

 

Do the trees feel cold?

Abandoned by their clothes

When the darkest nights come

 

Do the trees feel lost

Unable to move

With nowhere to go

 

Kisses of rain

I have felt lonely

I have felt cold

I have felt lost

Kisses of rain

 

I’m scared of the wind

I would rather be

A stone house than a tree

The wind of life blows

And my branches shake and my trunk sways

I would rather a stone house than a tree

The wind of life softens

My branches sway and dance

Maybe being a tree is not so bad

The wind of life blows through

And clears the clouds away

So sunlight illuminates

My golden leaves as I dance and sway

I see on the horizon a storm is on its way

How do I keep dancing as it blows?

How can I not dance and sway?

And glow

 

This is a noisy stillness

Wild peace

Wave of wind and spirit

Rolling though leaves

And body

Whispering wisdom

 

Strong Ivy

Hangs from pine trees

Invites

Climbing

A soft focus

Mind stills

Then ascends

With the shapes

It is beautiful

 

Descend to humus

And joyous connection

Below our feet

Web of fungi

The impulse of something like love

Take a rubbing

The bark of a beech tree

Like a dinosaur’s neck

Sinew that sings in the wind

 

Fire catching

Flame

Fierce

Glow

Blaze warmth

Kisses of rain