Some Spring Thoughts
The birds, poetry, and more that inspired recently
Lately, reciprocity dwells in my mind day in and day out. The need and want for it. I have been looking for examples around me, trying to take its measure from both humanity and nature. I wonder at its manifestation in the short term and how it adjusts in the long term. Ebb and flow. Push and pull. How anything out of balance for too long risks growing weak and rotten at the joints. Risks collapse. What is anything in life, whether it be love or care, work or calling, without reciprocity?
//
One morning, we returned from a walk to a beautiful ruby-crowned kinglet sitting in our neighbor’s giant not-yet-leafed tree shrub that hangs half its branches over our fence and into our yard. The kinglet tucked its head toward its back feathers to scrub at something, and its beautiful ruby red crown rose in that motion, and we both gasped. In our yard! A ruby-crowned kinglet in our own yard!!
Migration seems to gather itself more every day. The golden-crowned kinglets are also back, as are the yellow-rumped warblers. One morning at the river near a bridge, I heard an eastern phoebe call over and over but couldn’t locate it, which was its own sort of delight. The elusive nature of spring demands we keep looking, even if not all forays are a success, to discover its many wonders.
//
My days are thick with poetry lately, both writing and reading. At the start of the month (which is National Poetry Month!), I found the poetry section at the library and gathered a stack to take home. I picked up two collections just on feel, having never heard of the authors before. The first one I opened, The Undressing by Li-Young Lee, astounded me. I wrote down these lines, which then clanged around in my head for a few days: “at every corner, / opposites emerge, and you meet yourself.”
//
Out in the garden, the chives and garlic gather spring green unto themselves, and an itch returns to put my hands in soil and tend to something. I’m already dreaming of how to maximize my space for as many tomatoes and cucumbers as possible. I’m also dreaming of the salads and sandwiches and snacks and bowls that the two will make for us all the summer long. I’d like to bottle this feeling, remember it when the weeds appear over and over, and my will to stand up to them wanes. But just as the seasons cycle, so too do the desires. I remind myself of this, try to practice presence with the current moment without bemoaning the past or lusting after the future.
Happy April, happy spring. 🌞