On Sunday I watched this honey bee, most likely living in the hives my neighbors keep, work our sedum plants. In fact, it’s possible that I watched her collect nectar that will end up in my tea–in me!–come winter. Humbling.
Seeds from a Birch Tree
SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE
Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey
By Clark Strand
Hyperion, 1997
Category: Adult Non-fiction (Craft)
I found a copy of SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE on the used book sale shelf of the Peacedale Public Library, where my kids and I passed a rainy August afternoon during our vacation on the Rhode Island coast. For fifty cents, it was mine, and our (wet) vacation took an unexpected and sunnier turn. The things I’d brought to read sat neglected as I communed instead with this little masterpiece. And wrote haiku.
(Me? Writing haiku? I know it sounds crazy, but …)
Strand’s thoughtful look at the form and his zen approach to creating it is perfect for the tentative beginner. He doesn’t talk about composing poems so much as experiencing nature in a purposeful and meaningful way and, if the words come, recording the experience in seventeen syllables.
(Hey! Even I can do that.)
And Strand frames reading haiku as a spiritual practice, an idea that completely resonated with me.
(Slowing down? Looking deeply? Honoring the spiritual? What better time for that than a vacation?)
SEEDS was as inspirational to me as any book I have ever read. I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t expect it. But there it was. I’ve taken to carrying a notebook when I’m outside in the woods, an idea taken from Strand. Now I walk, and watch, and count syllables off on my fingers. It’s an addicting habit, a lovely practice, and I hope it stays with me.
silent, unmoving,
pine trees cast their hopes to wind
forest seedshower
© Loree Griffin Burns, all rights reserved
For a hefty dose of nonfiction, check out this week’s Nonfiction Monday roundup, over at Wrapped in Foil.
Flipping
I was planning a long post about a great weekend activity, but Melissa Stewart beat me to the flip. Here’s the scoop in a linkshell:
Sunday is International Rock Flipping Day!
Click on that last sentence for a bit of information on the day, its history, and how you can participate. Although I’m prone to flipping rocks any old day of the week, I’m going to make a special effort this Sunday. And I’ll bring my camera.
Have a great weekend, friends …
Wednesday Wild: Mystery Mushroom
On my bedside table at the moment is David Arora’s MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED. I’m not very far along yet, which may explain why I can’t tell you what kind of mushroom I’ve captured in the image above. I can tell you that mushrooms were plentiful in my part of New England this past Saturday; I saw dozens of species on a single trail at the Trout Brook Reservation in Holden, Massachusetts. And couldn’t ID a single one. Guess I’ll keep reading David’s book ….
Have a wild Wednesday!
Can I See Your I.D.?
CAN I SEE YOUR I.D.?
True Stories of False Identities
By Chris Barton
Illustrations by Paul Hoppe
Dial, 2011
Category: Middle Grade Nonfiction
I wanted to get my hands on this book for two reasons. First, Chris Barton wrote it. (Duh.) Second, I’d read somewhere the entire collection of thematically-linked true stories was written in the second person; this I had to read.
For those of you who haven’t thought about narrative mode in a while, the second person refers to the use of the personal pronoun “you.” As in:
“You are a fibber. A confabulator. Mary Baker, you’re a liar.”
Those are the opening lines from Barton’s profile of Mary Baker, who spent a couple crazy weeks in the summer of 1817 impersonating an exotic Asian princess. Her story is interesting in its own right, but because of the Barton’s choice to tell it in the second person, and to bundle it with ten additional short biographies of pretenders, readers are treated to something unexpected: front row seats in her interrogation.
And in the end, this is what struck me most about this book. Barton’s use of second person is a huge part of why it works so well, even though his is a somewhat unorthodox use of the form. Typically, a nonfiction writer will use second person to pull a reader into a piece, hoping she will see herself as the “you.” That is exactly why I used second person in CITIZEN SCIENTISTS, my book on kids and nature study. I wanted to invite readers into the experiences I was writing about:
“Butterfly eyes can detect movement, so when you sneak up on your monarch, net raised high over your head, be sure to move slowly. Do not point. Do not let your shadow fall on the butterfly. Breathe quietly.”
The reader is there with me in the meadow, catching butterflies. And if the form has worked the way I intended, she will be breathing quietly, waiting to see what happens next.
In Barton’s second person narrative, though, “you” is not the reader at all; “you” is the person being profiled. By taking this approach in a collection of ten biographies, Chris asserts his role not only as the book’s narrator, but as a trustworthy interrogator. As a reader, I came to understand that he would ask the right questions of his subjects, get me to the bottom of their strange stories of deception. I read along for the ride. And even though the ten subjects were from different times and places in history, they were strongly linked, in my mind, by their interrogator. (Er, biographer.)
I really, really enjoyed this book. Check it out, and whatever you do, do not skip the Afterword. It is also written in the second person, but this time the “you” refers to Chris himself. That is, Barton is both the interrogator and the person being interrogated in this final chapter. My head nearly exploded as I tried to follow along. Totally brilliant.
Random Acts of Publicity
A Writer’s Prayer
This morning I wrote the crappiest first draft of a book ever penned.
It is foul, I tell you. Beyond ugly. Practically unreadable.
But it’s done.
So, now I’ll go outside and enjoy the rest of the day. First, with a nod to Annie Lamott*, a prayer to the writing gods: Please don’t let me fall off a mountain or get hit by a bus before I am able to begin turning this piece of writing into a decent manuscript; I would hate for my mourning family to find this wretched first draft!
Amen.
And Happy Labor Day.
*If you are a writer, particularly a new one, consider reading Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD. Trust me.
STEM Friday Roundup
What’s STEM? It’s an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and it is used to describe anything—from curricula to careers to books—that draw on or explore those fields of study.
What’s STEM Friday? It’s a weekly online celebration of books and activities that explore themes of science, technology, engineering and math. Every Friday, book bloggers across the internet share their thoughts on STEM topics, and every Friday someone compiles the links to all their posts so that you can peruse them at your leisure.
Why am I telling you this? Because today is STEM Friday, and I am the STEM Friday host!
If you are a contributor, leave me a link in the comments section. If you are a reader, check back throughout the day, as I’ll be adding STEM Friday links to the list below all day …
First up is my post about International Coastal Cleanup, the perfect volunteer effort for anyone (or any group of someones) who has read TRACKING TRASH and felt moved to do something about ocean pollution.
Over at Ana’s Nonfiction Blog, author Ana María Rodríguez shares the slime in a sneak peak post about her book SECRET OF THE SUFFOCATING SLIME TRAP …. AND MORE!
At the SimplyScience blog, author Shirley Smith Duke shares a review and some related classroom activities in her post about the book HURRICANES!, by Gail Gibbons.
At Wrapped in Foil, Roberta explores Cat in the Hat science with a post reviewing WHY OH WHY ARE DESERTS DRY, by Tish Rabe, Aristides Ruiz, and Joe Matheiu.
Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff checked in with a post about SNAKES, SALAMANDERS, AND LIZARDS, by Diane Burns and Linda Garrow. (I love snakes, salamanders, and lizards!)
Cleanup! Cleanup! Everybody Cleanup!
If you’ve read my first book, TRACKING TRASH, you know that I’m a fan of the ocean cleanup extravaganza known as the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). One day, hundreds of thousands of volunteers, millions of pounds of trash lifted from shores and deposited in safer places AND a twenty-five year record of every single item collected*. What’s not to love? Having participated in a few events myself, I know first-hand the impact they have on local beaches and the people who love them.
This year, The Ocean Conservancy is encouraging event organizers to take their work to the next level: clean up beaches, record the trash you find … and at the same time do everything you can to be sure you make as little impact on the planet as possible. No more Boxes of Joe on the sidelines, folks; bring your own coffee in a re-useable mug. I love it.
Participating in a planned ICC event is an excellent way to empower students who are aware of the ocean pollution issue. (TRACKING TRASH readers, for example.) Yes, there is a lot of trash in the ocean, but we can do something about it. We can clean it up, we can look carefully at what we find, and we can change our habits. You can participate alone, with your family, with a classroom of students or as part of a scout group. The options are endless, and the impact is real.
This year’s ICC is September 17, and you can find more information and an event near you at The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup page.
For more information on ICC events happening in Massachusetts, where the festivities are spread out over a two month timeframe, visit the 2011 Coastsweep page.
* For 26 years, volunteers have counted all the debris collected on beaches around the world during ICC. Their results are compiled and published annually in The Ocean Conservancy’s State of the Ocean report. You can access the 2010 report from the ICC webpage linked above.
Wednesday Wild: Spotted Surprise
Spotted salamanders are famous for their springtime congresses, when males and females migrate in huge numbers from the woodlands where they’ve spent the winter to the vernal pools in which they will mate. I’ve spent many a warm and rainy spring evening hanging out around the local vernal pool with a flashlight strapped to my head, hoping for a good show. (No, I’m not the only whackadoo that does this sort of thing; for a sense of what draws us out there, read this. Or this.)
Anyway, I have never, ever seen a spotted salamander outside of that spring migration. But on Saturday, a day before Hurricane Irene crashed through Massachusetts, my husband unearthed this little fellow in the garden. He was kind enough to pose for a picture.
Here’s to some wild in your Wednesday …