Catherine’s challenge for the Inklings this month struck a deep chord with me:
Robin Wall Kimmerer teaches us that “It’s a sign of respect and connection to learn the name of someone else, a sign of disrespect to ignore it…Learning the names of plants and animals is a powerful act of support for them. When we learn their names and their gifts, it opens the door to reciprocity.” Look closely at the flowers, birds, trees, or other natural features in your neighborhood (or if you’re traveling, a new-to-you species) and write a poem about your chosen species.
The in-progress embroidery piece illustrating this post will be part of a larger textile piece exploring Robin Wall Kimmerer’s ideas about what it means to be indigenous vs. an immigrant, and ultimately, the importance of naturalization, of “becoming indigenous to place.” (Read the chapter “In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place” in BRAIDING SWEETGRASS for more eloquent details on these ideas.) I hope my poem not only expresses my love for Earth and all her beings, but also the recognition that Earth loves me back, and expresses that love in the glorious diversity of plants and animals that she’s give me to know by name and to care for and about.
Here’s what the other Inklings came up with this month:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
And here’s this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup! Add your link and enjoy the generous offerings of others!
PS: A quick Sealey Challenge update. Day 1: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL by Marilyn Nelson, Day 2: FELICITY by Mary Oliver, Day 3: TODAY I AM A RIVER by Kate Coombs.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Thanks for bringing us there with your tree ID’s, Cooper’s hawk, and remembering reciprocity. Your WIP embroidery piece is gorgeous, thanks also for hosting!
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I love how books and nature and art all come together for you, Mary Lee! Thanks for hosting!
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Love this so much, Mary Lee, and all the magic you Inklings conjure up. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS is on my nightstand next to be read; I’ve already given copies as gifts! I appreciate all the ways you are naming your/our neighbors, in words and in stitches.
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Beautiful, Mary Lee. I love thinking of trees and birds as our neighbors, and of becoming indigenous to a place. Thank you for hosting.
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I love the flow of discovery through your poem, Mary Lee. The joy of wonder. I remember the brolgas, from the first visit to my then-boyfriend, now husband’s property. I’d read of them, but somehow never imagined they were real. They are still up there as my favourite visitors. (How I missed them through the drought years!)
Also – I’m linking in from a new space, today. I’ve joined the Substack community, and hope that works for the Poetry Friday crew. Let me know if you’re there! (It’s all new to me. Gah!)
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And thanks for hosting us! 🙂
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Mary Lee, you provide a pertinent reminder of the enduring importance of going from the general to the specific when talking and writing. It is very much entwined in courtesy and respect. Your poem underscores you mission in this important post. Love your quite obvious connection to place. Thank you not just for hosting, but also for the timely reminder.
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Thanks for hosting, Mary Lee, and for sharing your wonderful words and beautiful needlework. Your love of the natural world is inspiring.
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I love the idea of “Neighbors” & the thread you have created for us, Mary Lee! Your new embroidery project is awesome! What a lovely beginning to August! Thanks for hosting!
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Mary Lee, you are a marvel. I look forward to seeing more of your embroidery with its inspirational thoughts. Thanks for hosting today and sharing your love of nature. You can be a walking talking field guide with all the knowledge of nature and its species that you have gathered and retained.
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Thank you for hosting this week, Mary Lee! I love the way your poem takes us on a tour of your growing awareness and love of the trees and birds in your neighborhoods. And your stunning embroidery is the perfect complement to “Neighbors.”
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Mary Lee, thank you for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Your embroidery block is beautiful. I so look forward to seeing the whole piece not just because of the embroidery and quilting but because it will be your concept come to life. What a joy this must be for you to work on. This poem is so personal to you that I feel like it’s mine too. I love sharing information…which means I can put all my learning and love of learning to use. The field guides…which I’m more apt to google these days…and the “what IS that? How is it different from? and, I wonder…” questions are always there. Thanks for your generosity of teaching. It’s also beautiful…your very own self shared with the world.
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Your poem is just right for this challenge., especially your list of trees. Such a variety. I don’t know that many. Love your embroidery. How do you make the tiny cursive words? I’m trying the Sealy Challenge again, but school starts for me today, so I may not be able to keep up. Thanks for hosting.
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This is absolutely gorgeous, ML. All of it. You inspire me deeply, your approach to learning and making is truly beautiful. May you meet some new natural friends (and stitches) in the coming days. Thank you for hosting. xo, a.
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Mary Lee, I love everything about this post! Your embroidery is a thing of beauty! I’ve been plotting a “name” quilting project in which we’ll embroider the names of the Africans onboard the Clotilda. I need tips from you about stitching words successfully! Thank you so much for hosting, and for being such a bright light. I’ve got a love poem inspired by Monet’s “Impression-Sunrise” painting that launched the Impressionist movement. xo
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Wow! I love the last stanza of this, and I also love that your astonishment has often taken place on a bike. I have been combing through field guides this summer as I have been trying to identify names of things I’ve taken photos of. Thanks for hosting!
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I love your weaving together of naming and appreciation, Mary Lee– highlighting Kimmerer’s book. And I have to say, A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL is such a treasure of a book. Devastating and beautifully crafted.
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I love Braiding Sweetgrass and your poem deepens my desire to know my neighbors 😊. I’ve been taking slow wildflower walks and using the info tab on my Apple photo app to learn their names. It’s been one of my quiet joys this summer. Thank you for hosting Mary Lee.
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Thank you for hosting Mary Lee. I, too, have read Braiding Sweetgrass and it left me with many mixed emotions. I think some of this had to do with my already immersed life in nature and my education as an environmental educator. In any case, I feel strongly that it is important to have a connection to nature (and place, as Kimmerer speaks of). I spent many years teaching children and fostering those connections to place and nature. I feel strongly that we have to start young. Your words and handicrafts are beautiful!
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Oh, what a powerfully beautiful sentiment! By helping my son learn the names of the plants and animals and creatures that share our world, I can help him build respect and an appreciation for all living things. Maybe then his generation can do a better job of caring for the earth than mine has. ❤
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Mary Lee, what a beautiful embroidery you are creating with the names of your sweet neighbors. Your post and poem are fascinating. I will check out the book you are referring to. I love the first two stanzas especially, remembering the first time you saw your first goldfinch and redbud blossom. By the way, I’m reading a book now–Healer of the Water Monster–the characters use braids of burning sweetgrass to restore health.
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I love how your first stanzas concentrate on one species each, and then it becomes a flood of species, of all the neighbors you’ve met and grown to know. Beautiful!
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There is so much to love about your poem…the opening, the noticing, and the getting acquainted. Thank you for hosting. I am going to pull Braiding Sweetgrass out again.
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Maybe this is a duplicate. I wanted to reply to my comment as I forgot to add how much I love oyur textile art.
I also love the way you opened your poem and the noticings. I have to revisit Braiding Sweetgrass.
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“Neighbors,” all the living beings, if we could think of them that way again. There’s so much movement in this poem, of you through the changing landscapes over time–the always-looking, always-learning feel is kind of mesmerizing!
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I absolutely love how you’re combining your arts so eloquently these days. Naming things always feels like an incantation to me, and I read your embroidery piece and poem with that same magical sense of acknowledging and honoring all the natural wonders. Lovely!
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