Field note no. 8
at home doing radical acts
Dear ones,
Greetings from my weekly field trip, which explored my wee bit o’ home turf. (“The most radical thing you can do,” said Gary Snyder, “is stay home.”1) Herein I write from the radical act of homing.
On breaks from writing, I found objects of art and interest on our back 0.40 acres. First, this weathervane, inherited from my parents’ home after their passing (they lived on a dirt lane that my mother called Quail Run). We run quail here, too, and remember good times with family.
Next, California towhees (The Birds Formerly Known as Brown Towhees) leapt for seeds in tassels of native grasses growing tall by our knotty fence.
Moving on to zinnias reaching and unfurling their petals beside kale plants that had hardly grown at all, I had to admire the ability of some to thrive in place with ease.
A young red-shouldered hawk, just out of the nest, shrieked and sailed over the treetops, as he’s been doing this week, while new green beans, weary of climbing, lay down among the leaves.
I felt a bit sad and lonely, as our group had read and written poems of longing—for peace, connection, and love the world over—but I felt less so among all this life in the mini-wild. All of it offered itself freely to our imaginations.
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely/the world offers itself to your imagination/calls to you like the wild geese . . . ” — Mary Oliver
Then, at the end of the day, called by wild geese to the watershed of my sister author Karen Auvinen, I rested out back with her words of rough beauty.2
Whichever watershed calls you home, however it sparks your imagination, may its beauty fill you with peace today.
With love and care,
Quote from poet and Buddhist practitioner Gary Snyder, who said it in the 1970s. Since then it’s been borrowed many times, e.g., by Terry Tempest Williams, as quoted on Goodreads, but don’t miss Rebecca Solnit’s short essay about the radical (aka “root”) act of staying home in Orion (2008). Just found it today. Worth a look!
Rough Beauty by Karen Auvinen (Scribner’s, 2019). I highly recommend Karen’s memoir about forty years of mountain (and poetic and heartfelt) living!
Amazing nature is everywhere, even here
I adore this piece—a lovely tribute to the power of presence, attention, and reverence for the world just outside our doors. 🕊️