"I went to Lake Bonny Park for this field trip, and I stayed there for at least 45 minutes."
Nature
By J.R. Koratich
As man moves in,
Nature moves out.
As man moves in,
The birds move out.
As man moves in,
The beauty moves out.
The Birds, Bees, and Fish
By J.R. Koratich
As the birds flutter about
Their song flutters about, and out of their mouths.
As the bees buzz around
Their calm peacefulness frightens and worries us.
As the fish swim in the murky, polluted lake,
We fall asleep as we stare into the water.
The Mountains
By J.R. Koratich
We look off into the mountains
We see their beauty, and their detail.
We fail to see their size.
We look out and we know not
Their immense size and detail
We see the waterfalls off of the mountains.
We are in awe
We boast of movie stars
We boast of shows on TV
Why not boast of the beautiful nature?
Or better yet, the beautiful God that created them all.
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| the mountain waterfall |
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| the mountain waterfall again |
I agree that nature can help you get close to God. I talked in my last post about how that is how I get close to God. Do I necessarily agree that that “poetry is prayer”, no not at all. It is an extreme. I do not think that there are many extremes. There are many forms of poetry, and yes there are some that have prayer in them, but all prayer is not poetry. I think that what Mary Oliver said, or what was trying to get at was true, that some prayers can have poetry in them, or even that some poetry is a prayer, but not all. I think that nature is a good avenue to God through it all. How can a person look down a huge valley and not see the handy work of God. When I was on a cruise this summer up to Alaska, I saw some sights that were absolutely stunning. Waterfalls have to be some of my favorite scenery because of their power, size, and just all around beauty. Two times on the cruise when we were in port and on a tour the guide said that if we took a trail that we would see a waterfall. One time we had to run a mile or so in just 20 min (which included picture time) round trip so that we could get up close and personal.
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| the glacier waterfall that I had to run over a mile to |
The other time was just a quiet walk back among the trees to this waterfall. The waterfall that we had to run to was off of a glacier. The bright blue in a glacier is truly beautiful. I will say that this walk at lake bonny park was nice. It was calm and quiet. I was saddened when I saw the trash and junk in the lake, but that’s what man does when he is not careful. That walk was very enjoyable, mostly because I love those types of walks. Just a question, why don’t we read any Frost? I think that he is a very great poet. I suggest that you look at this one, it is probably my favorite poem. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Were these photos taken by you? Either way, they are incredible.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite of your three poems is the middle one. It has a fresh concreteness to it--and the final line seems latent with meaning.
Obviously, not all poetry is prayer for everyone. But, for Oliver, it is. This has to do with "praying without ceasing," about making whatever we do prayer.
What you describe in your first poem is too often the case. But I don't think that it has to be that way. People can coexist with nature and beauty, but only if we live more gently than we usually do. Circle B and Lake Bonny are good examples of people and nature being able to get along well together.
As for Robert Frost, he certainly is a very good poet. But I like Mary Oliver better. Partially, its just a matter of taste.
yes the pictures were taken by me(strangely enough they were taken with my phone). they were the waterfalls that I mentioned in the blog. Words and pictures don't do their beauty justice. And i do see where you were coming with the "praying without ceasing" bit, that is very true. I do also think that we don't have to ruin the environment, it all comes down to being good stewards of what God has given us.
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