One of my favourite poets is Jarod K. Anderson, also known as The Cryptonaturalist. I am musing on a poem of his today, from his most recent small book of poetry: Leaf Litter
As I sit in the late afternoon and allow the beauty of the quiet snow clad hill to envelop me, his words come to mind: ‘The beauty isn’t a gift, its a partnership’. And I think, How do I partner with this, today? What is my partnership with Life in this moment, these hours, these days?
We each have unique intrisic potential that, when we invoke it, will offer immeasurable partnership to Earth. As a teacher I wonder, how do we teach that to children? How do we help each one of them grow into their unique partnership with Life? How do we do it ourselves, and become examples?
The image of the spider and the web in Jarod’s poem, only alluded to, is so powerful to me. It is only as the spider engages with the two sturdy boughs, only as she determines to weave, to stich, to entangle with the other forms of life, that her web takes shape, and only as the dawn breaks over it that its beauty is revealed. While we are working, adding each stitch, we might not be aware- indeed we cannot be aware – of the full beauty the weaving can become. Emergence, newness that comes into being in systems, requires not just each individual potential, but that individual potential in relationship with diverse others. I see that in these words too.
In the image of the spider there is the encouragement to take each step forward, allowing for the uncertainty of the larger picture while reveling in the beauty of our entanglement in the entire web of life. January, the beginning of a new cycle around the sun in at least the western calendar, and the beginning of longer days toward Spring growth, seems a good time to reflect on our potential, and our partnership in creating the beauty on Earth that we long for.
REAP 