On July 27 there was a Nature Walk like none other. It was a walking writing workshop led by naturalist and poet, Mobi Warren. About 15 people practiced quiet meditative walking along the Savanna and Oak Loop trails. Mobi had the group stop at several points and write based off of a writing prompt. After about 5 minutes of writing, the participants were invited to share their words. The poems that arose from that walk were beautiful, kind, a celebration of nature and the park, and sometimes even funny. Here are a few poems the participants were willing to share.

Misunderstood 

Underrated 

Unsung hero of this place

Stealth service—

Savanna. 

I am a creature of the grass. 

I am a captive of the soil

~ Drezek

Your golden rays bore through the web of my tangled branches into a fiery burst traversing a notch of my outreaching arm. The bursting rays illuminate the velvet green hearts of plants between my spreading roots. Among the brown crinkled leaves afoot, flat planes send forth upward beams. Diffuse light flows to grasses and forbs that rest within my protective shield. Ball moss on my hanging arms are spun with silks that shimmer or glow to the casual eye below.

~ Jim Morrisey

Perceptions of Light

I see the light in the way the ball moss wears a crown of sunshine

I feel its warmth on my skin

I smell the light through the exhalation of the vegetation

I hear it in the symphony of cicadas and bird song

I long for the light when there is darkness

~ Teresa Shumaker 

This walk was the fourth year in a row that it has been held. Join us next summer for the return of Nature in Poetry!