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Seeing the Forest
Listen to the rustle of the foliage in the forest,
_And note the motes of pollen floating there;
Muscle headlong through the brush and never feel embarrassed
_If you get whiplashed on your derriѐre.
Spurs are meant to drive you on to where your eyes are looking,
_Although you still insist they rub you raw.
Pay attention when the brutal Natural World is talking,
_Unless advised against it by your squaw.
When it’s possible, elect the path that brings adventure,
_But never disregard the commonplace.
Palisades of Heaven are immutably concentric,
_And camping in their shade is no disgrace.
Waging war, by most accounts, is very unproductive
_And only leads to unforgiven debt.
Choosing sides is often arbitrarily selective
_And doesn’t sanctify your cold-pressed sweat.
Forests, on the other hand, engender perfect fairness,
_Where things appear exactly as they are;
There we see good evidence for salutary progress,
_As punctures and abrasions leave no scar.
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C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Australia and India. His collection, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder was published in 2013 by White Violet Press.
You actually have ‘SCARS’ from camping episodes, C. B.!?!?!? My wife and I were just beginning to organize our first ever outdoor adventure in a huge forest preserve in northern Wisconsin. When we visit our local Sporting Goods store to buy the tent, thanks to you sharing the various pitfalls of your apparently extensive camping experiences, we’ll be sure to grab some heavy duty, upper & lower body armor. We greatly appreciate the tip! 🙂
Honestly, Mark, I had hoped this poem would come off a bit more cosmic. I have no such scars because I tend to move through the woods slowly and deliberately. Insect repellent is probably a better idea than armor. In any event, my camping days are over.
I had my fill of camping while in the army. Then my wife would ask, “Why don’t we ever go camping?” One problem with military outdoor adventures; the “bears” sometime shoot at you.
Just who, Roy, supports the right to arm bears? I gave up camping when my kids were still young, because I missed home cooking and my books.
I like these quatrains, with only the even-numbered lines rhyming perfectly. The odd-numbered ones don’t rhyme, or only have a bare suggestion of rhyme.
Also, the odd-numbered lines are trochaic, while the even-numbered ones are iambic. This knits each quatrain tightly, especially when the lines are read aloud.
I sometimes use elaborate metrical schemes, Joseph, probably because I am a glutton for punishment. When generating slant rhymes, I look for slight correspondences, and, as you note, some of the ones here are nearly invisible. Sometimes I can’t see the trees for the forest.
What a beautiful opening line! A forest walk is much preferable to war, I’m sure, but no overnighting. My husband (sent off to camp every summer as a boy) likes a pine-paneled room instead. I with you. C. B., on wanting my books for real comfort. The Natural World does plenty of talking, not to mention those little attacks by brush and bugs. Thanks for well-spoken reminders.
Excellent poem, C.B., with some insightful observations about the world of Nature versus the world of men, including their respective approaches to fairness and inequal capacities to heal. As always, I admire your amazing gift for rhyme and word-play. I’ve not yet seen the word “squaw” in a poem (maybe in “Hiawatha”?) but love that uncommon rhyme with “raw” as I also chuckled at your “there/derriere” rhyme.
A fun tribute to the wonders of the wild, CB. Only one line mentions camping, and from your comment to Roy Peterson, I suspect you think it an unnecessary length to go to for enjoyment of nature. At any rate, you reminded me of an adventure in Yosemite, from which our party of 5, abandoning its plan for 2-3 nights of roughing it, limped back to Berleley on a tire that gave out the next day.
I love the way you’ve consistently used slant rhymes on the first and third lines.
Lines 4 and 8 made me laugh; I hope that was appropriate!
And I did enjoy the whole poem.
As someone who used to enjoy hiking in the woods, I appreciated the experiences you brought to life in your poem. But I have to say, I prefer adventures that still allow me to sleep in my own bed. The only legitimate reason I can think of for camping is getting lost on the hike.
Something I learned today is slant rhyming. I never knew it was a thing. So with “orange”, you might use “binge”? And this would be Ok if applied consistently? Good to know. It almost seems more difficult to do than a straightforward rhyme. At least for me.
Thank you for allowing to take a virtual walk through your woods.