Humanities in Nature Walks Poetic Inspiration Series
A series of poems inspired by Humanities in Nature Walks, Spring-Summer 2022
Desert Rose
By Robyn Oxborrow
What perfume is caught between willow and sage-
What lingers as stars blink awake, one by one-
What sweetness cuts over dredged paths and snow melt strides-
What blooms beside the bone white wood,
its tan hide hangs, limbs greeting the night-
Robyn Oxborrow is a resident of Reno, Nevada.
Image by pisco from Pixabay.
Photo courtesy of Jim Gaskill.
Haikus
By Jim Gaskill
Veronica Lake by Jughead
Steps take me forward
Nature requests that I stop
Nature melts me still
Buds here are bursting
Ducks on nests be squatting
We remain strangers
Sunlight's blanket soothes
Waters' passages birds traced
Mating silence breaks
Gratitude on me
Cleansing and grounding slowly
Quieting my fears
Thom’s cook
Clackity clack of the distant train
Muffles idle picnic chatter
Robins ask, Jays respond
Sweet floral scent embraces
Harsh form dissects the land
Rust betraying its forgotten age
Arched lines meant to mimic nature
Crosses whitecaps gaily splashing
Dead naked form performs its grace
Shagged bark stiffly draping limbs
Branches dried cracking guises
Casting off spent energies
Waning flower moon illuminates the path
While nights nocturnal fauna hastens
Bats tracing sky lace patterns
Shadows still silent shimmering
Jim Gaskill
In retirement now
On occasions creative
Nevada my muse
Tree Rustle Softens As Neon Dusk Dissipates
By Kymmo Guiang Valenton
The crumbling rocky path stops crunching
long enough to hear the two streams
on either side. Fluidity in the sedimentary
curves, though the hill lies still
where the sagebrush did not root.
The Tom Cooke Trail is manmade, paved
by countless hiking boot prints. In five or six hours,
the shade of the bitter-berry blooms will become shadows
cast from the light of the waning Flower Moon.
Kymmo Guiang Valenton made a home in Nevada after living in the Philippines and Southern California.
Photo courtesy of Kymmo Guiang Valenton.
About Humanities in Nature
Humanities in Nature is a nature walk series in collaboration with Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation that introduces northern Nevada residents to their outdoor environment and encourages us to explore and reimagine the outdoors through the lens of human connection and creation. A full listing of upcoming Humanities in Nature walks locations and start times is on the Nevada Humanities website. These events do require advance registration. You are welcome to learn more and register here.
Support for this program comes in part from the City of Reno.