Elements of Humanity

Earth: bone like rock and flesh like clay
Water: cooling refreshment and cleansing spray
Air: warm, inspiring breath denies cold, despairing death
Fire: flaming spirit enlightens ordinary day

Elements of Trees

Earth: land’s mineral fertility
Water: dihydrogen monoxide’s nutritive quality
Air: carbon dioxide’s constructive property
Fire: photon’s creative energy

Elements of Peace

Earth: soil's fecund nurturations
Water: stream's gentle murmurations
Air: pine's whispering susurrations
Fire: star's twinkling shimmerations

Tree Hugger Romance

What if a tree hugger developed a romantic relationship with a tree? What if the relationship developed problems? Here is the rest of the story:

I came home last night and my girlfriend the apple tree was crying. There were blossoms all over the place.

“What’s wrong?” I axed.

She braced herself and said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, and I wasn’t thinking of branching out, but I’ve met someone else”.

“What went wrong?” I axed. “I thought we wood grow old together. I thought we had good chemistry. I would exhale carbon dioxide which you absorbed and you released oxygen which I inhaled. It was a perfect system. Who is it?”

“I’ve developed a budding relationship with the walnut tree in the park”.

“I thought I ‘saw’ you looking at him”, I whimpered.

“He said he’s nuts about me and that I’m the apple of his eye. I don’t know if it will work out, but, to be fair, I think I should leaf you as soon as possible.”

“Years ago he was poplar but he turned out to be a shady character and I think you’re barking up the wrong tree”, I told her angrily. “That walnut tree was a member of a splinter faction and hung out with some squirrelly characters! You are just infatuated with his pet dogwood tree”.

“That may or may knot be true”, she responded, “but I’m planning to go tonight so I don’t leaf you in limbo.”

I relented and said, “Maple it’s the best thing for you. I wooden want you to miss and opportunity for tree love. I won’t cut you down for your dream of happiness. It’s oak-a with me. I won’t pine for you. Make like a tree and leave before I change my mind”.

I thought she had bats in her belfry, but maple it was just the noise from all the hummingbird nests on her limbs. She rooted through her belongings and packed them in her trunk. The last time I saw her she was going down Peachtree Street weeping like a willow.


Copyright 2009
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Tales of the Coyote State Forest

The Coyote State Forest swimming pool had large horseflies last summer. Once I was swimming and two giant horseflies grabbed me by the hair, pulled me out of the water and dropped me on the pool deck. Then a housefly landed on me!

The Coyote State Forest swimming pool has a large amount of chlorine in it. One day a black snake fell into the pool. By the time it swam out on the other side it had turned solid white. Another day a black bear did a cannonball off the diving board. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it jump and I heard the thud when it hit bottom. By the time it came up for air it had become a polar bear.

The water in the Coyote State Forest swimming pool is very cold. One day a rattlesnake fell into the pool. By the time the lifeguard saved the rattlesnake it was so cold it was shaking badly. With the rattle at one end and the chattering teeth at the other end it sounded like a percussion band.

Once day a fellow caught a fish at the Forest pond. The strange thing was that he caught it by the tail. He said it was swimming backward to keep the water out of its eyes.

The maintenance crew at the Coyote State Forest is amazingly skilled with heavy equipment. They are able to place large boulders on the tops of mountains to create very attractive scenic overlooks. Their landscaping skills make it seem as if the rock formations have been there for millions of years.

The rangers have a busy time each spring when the black bears return from Florida. The line at the southern entrance to the Forest can be quite long and some of the bears become unruly as they wait impatiently. They can become quite testy about government regulations especially regarding their right to carry weapons.

The rangers are often occupied through the summer months with bear complaints as they come into the office. Commonly bears complain about rude campers, dirty restrooms and overly tight trash can lids. They also dislike poison ivy and briers on the trails and they seem unusually upset about poorly marked trails.

There is a large overabundance of coyotes in the Coyote State Forest. The rangers captured many of the coyotes and trained them to race while chasing a mechanical rabbit around a track. Forest visitors bet on which coyote will win the races. Lucrative revenues from coyote track gambling have enabled the Forest to operate with a large cash surplus.

If I’m lyin’, I’m dyin’.


Copyright January 29, 2011
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Spoken Like Poetry
(1 of 4)

Spoken by Teri:

We can’t live without water.
In Kentucky we live in a forest with forty to fifty inches of rainfall a year,
And can’t get a clean drink of water.
That’s a sad story.

And to think we have allowed one industry
-One industry-
To take it away from us.

You cannot continue to destroy the most diverse hardwood forests in the world,
Leaving deserts on top of these mountain ranges,
And expect to have water for the southeastern part of the United States.

You can live without coal.

You can live without oil.

You can live without gas.

But you cannot live without water.


This material originally appeared in Plundering Appalachia: The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining. The book was edited by Tom Butler and George Wuerther and it was published by Earth Aware Editions in 2009. The material was printed as a transcript of a spoken interview. I copied the transcript verbatim then I edited it by simply changing the sentences in paragraphs to lines in a “poem”.

Emerald

Wood Thrushes at Night Fall

Thrushes are the last singers of the day

They sing the woods to sleep

Mysteriously, melodiously they call into the dusk


At times one will sing a liquid tune

Then others join in overlapping duets and trios

The near ones seem to stop and listen

And others are heard in the velvet distance


Stillness overtakes the woods

Thrushes are the last birds to fall silent

Going quiet here and there

One by one they cease singing

Like the gentle blinking out of fireflies



Copyright July 2003
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

A Concert of Thrushes


Exploding in song

Like gentle fireworks

Each perfectly individual

Each perfectly integrated with others

A polyphony of sweet questioning tones




Copyright 2009
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Like a Thrush

Take a breath of ordinary air.

Warm it with your extra-ordinary spirit.

Sing like there’s no tomorrow.

Repeat relentlessly.


Copyright 2009
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

I wish that all the world would hush
And listen to the thoughtful thrush...


Copyright August 2, 2010
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Robin’s
Egg
Blue
Bird
of
Happiness
is
a
State
of
Mind.


Copyright (c) 2009
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

A creamy tan, a subtle brown;
A bird of country, not of town.
A flock of little woodland friends:
Chirpy, cheery, lively wrens.


Copyright (c) 2010
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Keep your eyes open and maybe you’ll see:
A bird will take flight from its perch on a tree.
A bird on the wing is a wonderful thing.
Think what it’s like to fly high and be free.


Copyright (c) 2010
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

A duck on the land has an ungainly pace.
Its swimming is faster but won’t win a race.
You’d think that you ought
Not to give it a thought,
But a duck in the air moves with powerful grace.


Copyright (c) 2010
eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises

Ol’ Man River

Ol’ Man River, so deep, so wide.
Your channel holds your soul inside.
Your rolling water, so dark, so slow.
Is this the way your thoughts now flow?

Perhaps the night inspires a dream
Of days of being just a stream.
Can you recall your droplet birth?
Your start outside the mother earth?
You then became a bubbling spring
And nature heard you laugh and sing.
You leapt and played like other rills
And tumbled down majestic hills.
So bright and clear your sparkling spills
Like happy kids or champagne thrills.

You disregard your history
Inside your staid maturity?
Perhaps you ponder mystery
Or maybe future certainty.
Do you expect decreasing speed
Or in the present give no heed
That freshness might soon turn to salt?

You cannot win against assault.
Relentless nature’s gravity
Convert’s “Ol’ Man” into the sea.

Copyright (c) 2009

eMeRaLD Effect Enterprises