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Happy Monday! I have trees on my mind again.
LitHub had an interview with W.S. Merwin last week. Merwin is a poet and his poems are filled with nature. I read him for the first time last year and he really is marvelous.
In the interview he says about trees and what they can teach us:
They’re everything. They’re a kind of life that is incredibly ancient. People say why palms and I say palms are 90 million years old and we don’t know anything about them. All you have to do is just pay a little attention to them and you can be learning from them all the time. You should be feeling a great pleasure in being alive. Trees have these connections between the roots and the leaves. A drop of rain that lands on the leaf of a tree is not the same as the drop that later falls down into the ground. There’s so much about it that we don’t understand and we don’t have to understand it. It’s not about understanding. It’s about our one life, our one and only life.
It’s about our one life, our one and only life.
We don’t get another chance. Let’s pay attention. Let’s do something to make the world a better place. For the trees and for ourselves.
Be strong. Be brave. Be kind.
As Mary Oliver says, what is it you will do with your one wild and precious life? I have always intended to read Merwin, thank you for this lovely post.
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Valorie, yes, exactly! Merwin is a really wonderful poet. I hope you get a chance to read and enjoy him!
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“We don’t get another chance. Let’s pay attention. Let’s do something to make the world a better place. For the trees and for ourselves.” Well said. Merwin sounds like a very interesting poet.
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AMB, thanks! Merwin is really wonderful, meditative and and thoughtful. He doesn’t go for the easy and obvious but he isn’t difficult to read. Highly recommend him 🙂
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I love this part “A drop of rain that lands on the leaf of a tree is not the same as the drop that later falls down into the ground”. It’s got so much of depth there…about our trees and about our lives.
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cirtnecce, isn’t that great? and it’s true! As the tree interacts with the water it changes it by the time it falls to the ground. A fascinating process that is also ripe with metaphorical meaning 🙂
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What cirtnecce says.
I certainly believe that planting trees is one of the big things we can do for our planet. I am counting the trees we had had to remove from our garden and the ones we’ve planted. So far planting is far ahead and will only go further now unless a tree dies. I’m pleased about that.
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A wonderful quotation that summarises so much of what nature literature is trying to say.
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Ian, yes indeed! Merwin is a wonderful poet and one of those thoughtful humans you want to talk with for hours over coffee/tea.
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whisperinggums, yes, I agree! I am still reading the tree book I quoted from last week and I just learned how important forests are for moving water inland from the coasts. How they do it is most amazing. Good work adding trees! When we moved in to our house there were three trees and now there are seven trees and two additional that are in between big shrub and tree. Pretty pleased about that 🙂
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Pingback: Shout It Out Monday – W.S. Merwin on Trees — So Many Books – Cygnus
Just a few lines. And each line offering a thougt to reflect on. How marvellous that is.
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Glad you enjoyed it Cath!
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So wonderful. I really need to read some Merwin!
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Iliana, oh yes, i think you would really like him!
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I’ve never read Merwin, but it sounds like I really need to!
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Laila, yes, yes, he is often…luminous.
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Yes, kindness is hugely underrated. I had to look him up as I had always connected his name with writings on spirituality, but then maybe his poetry is sort of spiritual? It sounds like this is perfect companion to The Hidden Life of Trees.
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Danielle, I wouldn’t call him a spiritual writer, wise perhaps might be a better description.
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Thank you so much. I loved this post and always get excited when people speak of poetry. Merwin is indeed a fine poet.
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Thanks Gubbinal! I love poetry and Merwin is one of the finest. He is getting rather elderly and it will be a sad day when he dies.
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