Category: Nature
-
While Still So Much of the World Works
While still so much of the world works,While Piner Creek still giggles as it flows,While the coastal oak guards its leaves and the valley oak gives them away,While the hooded merganser and her mate return to this brook bend again this year,Let us not fail to love that which asks nothing from us but close…
-
Horrible
I want to stumble upon a cache of horrible poems by Mary Oliver But before learning that she was in fact the person who wrote them I want to laugh at them, to guffaw and tsk and shake my head “Hey, listen to this!” I will shout at someone across the room, and then I’ll…
-
To Fall Like It Fell
I want to be like this treeThis live oak here in this canyonI want to fall like it fellTo be caught by the same soft ground Toppled, it sees the world anew, from belowIt has new friends with new needsA lizard seeking refugeA pill bug licking its pill bug lipsWaiting for the tree to die…
-
Redwoods of Lebanon
A few years ago, I preached a sermon on the Cedars of Lebanon, the famed trees of the Bible that stood for strength and endurance and beauty and steadfastness. It was a sermon on the climate crisis and I asked the congregation to consider our own coastal redwoods. They really are most incredible. I remember…
-
High School Bands
Here and there, now and then, I’ve written music. Sometimes I’ve even been in a band. The first was The Figskinz. Danny Johnson, Pete Rinaldi, and I formed “rock’s most influential band” back in 1987 when we all went down to the Musician’s Trading Post on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz and purchased electric guitars.…
Almost a Conversation 