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Abenaki Legend: Maple Syrup

2/15/2013

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The Maple tree in ancient days
made sap so thick and sweet
all you had to do was break
a branch, and you could eat

the People of one village saw
how easy it might be
to lie beneath a branch and drink
the sap straight from the tree

they lay in sweet forgetfulness
for days, and then for weeks
the fields grew weeds, the fires cold
and still they filled their cheeks

Gluskabe saw that it was time
to wake them from their dream
from bark of Birch he made a pail
and filled it from the stream

and all the water he poured in
for each Moon of the year
the Maple's sap grew thin and pale
the People woke in fear


Picture
Pow wow Dancers





"What's happened to the Maple tree
that has sustained us so?"
"Such gifts can not be given free
no more will syrup flow

the Maple is a gift to you
but now in one Moon turning
you must work hard to catch the flow
coax honey from the burning"

he showed the People how to make
the pails and piles of wood
and gather rocks to boil the sap
and make the syrup good

now each year in the Sap Moon's turn
and heedless of the weather
so grateful for Creator's gift
the People come together

---April 2012

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Hearts

2/14/2013

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Stone Balance

2/12/2013

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I dig about in the snow
to find the one stone
that balanced so fine
a triangle that posed so well on the stone wall
for three months, at least.


The children found it
at the first good snowfall
when they came for sledding
and knocked it down
as should be done to any stone so balanced.


Laughing, me.
And knowing
that I,
having come upon such a stone
unexpected
would have knocked it down, too

and balanced another.
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Selections from the pocket memo books

2/7/2013

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"Forest on a fencepost" on June 22nd.





In January....

bonsai on a fencepost
wearing a tiny snowdrift
still it lives.


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Selections from the pocket memo books

2/6/2013

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2/2011



Left: Cat behind partition.

Right: Cat birdwatching.

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Seen on the same day

2/5/2013

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Barnside,
morning walk.

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Children's Exhibit, evening field trip to Old Sturbridge Village.







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Selections from the pocket memo books

2/4/2013

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Scrawled writing....


crumbling fallen Oak
colored in dry senescence
courted by living lichen
half plant half mushroom
like a botanical    centaur ?

satyr?

difference?

Number of legs.


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Selections from the pocket memo books

2/3/2013

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Ridiculous Pull Toys
...apparently a sandpail, butterfly, acorn, watercolor tin, and attacking eagle. I like that the eagle is facing back, so it attacks anything sneaking up on you.

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Selections from the pocket memo books

2/1/2013

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Panda-faced Cat

Panda faced cat
intent on startling crows
and accruing discarded chicken bones.
How embarrassing
that I saw you.
Picture

Panda faced cat
Why did you pick my doorstep
for your bathtub?

Did you swat a bottle of ink?
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