Awakening Our Senses #2
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their families, their histories too.
Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.
-JOY HARJO-
Alive poems. What a nice way to consider our living, non-human companions. What a vivid reminder to awaken to our senses each day, taking in these creatures and creations that reside on the planet with us.
I was thinking especially of what my olfactory nerve was taking in yesterday afternoon.
I stopped to do an errand after work, at a store located on the edge of town. I was near enough and it was breezy enough to catch a whiff of manure that had been spread on farm fields. It’s a common practice by farmers to help fertilize the soil and have nutrients available in the spring. Not a pleasant smell, but to me also not unpleasant. It was a dose of nostalgia, delivered through my nose.
I went home and mowed the lawn next. I think we can agree that the smells there were more enjoyable, but no less endearing. I thought about how fresh-cut fall grass smells different than spring grass. I took in the distinctly seasonal smells of leaves and plants drying and dying.
I considered squirrels as alive poems. They often entertain, sometimes destruct. Grasshoppers and crickets have been poetic lately too, alive and well on the trails.
What will you and I notice today? Take a moment. Take a break. Step outside. Awaken one or all of your senses. Take in the alive poems waiting for you.
