Declaration

 Who cares really what you think about babies, whether you find them a blessing, a bore, a bramble, a key, a window, a door, a wormhole, a wonder, a Whac-a-Mole, a babble, a blather, adorbs or a bad idea...

-Ross Gay "Babies Again (Seriously)"

As part of my journaling practice, I've been reading a selection from Ross Gay's The Book of (More) Delights. I read the essayette (as he calls them) and then I make note of what literary techniques he is using to creatively get his point across. I then use his theme as a prompt for myself, or a try to imitate something I think he is doing that is fun, unique, a challenge, or just plain good writing. The alternate is to use my dissection to write my own poem, which is what I did today.

In today's essay (the opening graces the top of this blog), he does this listing thing twice, where he goes a little off the rails with it. But it is what makes his description of an encounter with a baby being carried on a mother's hip so enchanting. I was coming to the conclusion that I could not do what he does because I don't have his voice.

Then I stopped and thought...well, that is just a ridiculous idea. 

What would I tell my students? Try it. So I did:

I came to the realization
that no matter

how much I study and

analyze the essays

of Ross Gay

I will never be able

to do what he does 

without sounding stupid.

It's because of his voice.

And since I have made this

declaration

in my voice

I will add

that whether you find my

poems delightful, dippy, dopey,

drippy, repetitive, reachable,

rusty, ridiculous, or just fine,

thank you --

     they are mine -- seriously!

"Sloughness"

As you take in the environment, think about the sloughness.

-Dr. Bill Hammond-

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of spending time at a Nature Journaling Workshop at Six Mile Cypress Slough. The workshop leader was Dr. Bill Hammond, a legendary figure in Southwest Florida, as he is one of the people who spearheaded and fought for saving the slough decades ago. He has left an incredible legacy, and he has stories to tell!

During my B.A. program at Florida Gulf Coast University, I took a class with Dr. Hammond called Issues in Ecology and Environment (Fall 2002). I learned quite a lot in his class, which wasn't strictly academic by any means. We had to keep a nature journal and that is where we took notes, observed nature, and brainstormed for assignments. When I knew I needed a journal for this workshop, I pulled out the one from his class and had a wonderful time reading through how that semester went, what my reactions were, and how I gained so much knowledge about what mistakes were made in the Florida environment, and the safeguards that are supposed to prevent the issues that inevitably show up.

Saturday was about getting out to the slough and taking it in, what Dr. Hammond called the "sloughness." He asked us to see if we could define just what that invented word means, and after doing some sketches and mind-mapping (we were required to use both sides of our brain), I wrote an acrostic style poem on "sloughness."

Spending treasured time with Dr. Hammond

Saturday morning by Gator Lake

Light bright, breeze slight

Opening to nature with purpose

Untold stories all around me.

Giving myself a new direction

Has taken me by surprise.

Now...now is all there is.

Experience the freedom this brings.

Sloughness is everywhere in the flow,

Structure, and everything in between.