deep in the forest
spots of light
spatter in a spray
a disco ball pattern
tilting too slowly
to be seen
by humans
but a blur
to the trees
humans are to trees
as hummingbirds
are to humans
flitting too fast
to recognize
living too briefly
to seem useful
Trees talk.
Share sugar.
Stretch skyward.
Grow,
Compete,
Breath,
&
Eat.
Memorize weather.
Flock together.
Host birds of a feather.
Participate in pacts.
Never overreact.
House strangers.
Call out dangers.
Take things slow.
Never over grow.
But there are fields–
endless fields–
of green zombies.
Who cannot talk.
Who do not share.
Whose competitors
&
allies
are executed.
So they can fulfill a purpose
not their own.
Once there was a dog and a man.
The dog chased and the human ran.
The dog got leaner, the man fitter.
But sometimes got bit, and being bit got bitter.
Chased, one day, a bone in hand.
The man devised a clever plan.
Raising the club, he flung it aside.
The dog caught its meal in mid-stride.
From that day on man carried meat.
To offer dog a tasty treat.
Dog, it seems, had trained its master.
No more racing to get faster.
Thirty thousand years then past.
Pavlov trained at dog at last.
Humans are slow, but can learn.
As the world, in due time, turns.
mountain torn in twain
a ridge rended like a child’s
paper crafts project
the shikara slips
through inky predawn waters
a bare bulb aim point
burbling waters
ubiquitous, mountain soul
resonate to it
a glacier-fed lake
mirror clear until fog forms
filling the valley
foal copies its mom
grazing on neat pasture land
it’s never rushed
Half a loaf haiku
You may capture four seasons
While I have but two
In rainy season
Midnight downpours catch no cat
Out in the open
Butterfly dogfight
Jinking, dipping, and spiraling
Sketching a helix
Circling far above
Big winged hawks banking downward
Snapping up dinner
Taken in Panjim, Goa on October 9, 2016.
Taken in Great Himalayan National Park in July of 2015
Back in my day, we had the “Scenic Overlook.” Now when you’re trekking they have the “Mobile Phone Access Point.” Thoreau would cry.
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you’re like me, you had no idea who Alexander von Humboldt was prior to this surprisingly well-received book. So why read a book about him? Well, you’ve surely heard of the people he influenced: e.g. Darwin, Thoreau, Jefferson, Bolivar, Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Muir—to name a few.
Humboldt was one of the top scientists of his time, but his influence extended far beyond that aspect of his life. Much of the thrill of this book comes from Humboldt’s expeditions to Latin America and Russia. He faced alligators, electric eels, a capsized ship, and natural disasters. He also made Herculean efforts to arrange a Himalayan expedition, but politics and personalities intervened to delay him until he was too old to make the trip. (It should be noted that when Humboldt summited Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador in the early 1800’s, it was believed to be the highest peak in the world [at 6268m, or 20,600ft.] Needless to say there was a lot unknown about the Himalaya at the time—e.g. Everest is 8848m, or over 29,000ft.) While Humboldt produced specific breakthroughs and discoveries (e.g. inventing isotherms and discovering the magnetic equator), much of the inspiration he provided was in showing the interconnectedness of nature and the potential for unintended consequences.
As a Prussian aristocrat, Humboldt was born into a position to have influence but it was his ideas and his personality that made him so sought after. He could be arrogant, but was humbled in the face of nature. He was charismatic, but did not suffer fools kindly. He was adamantly anti-slavery and strongly opposed efforts of religion to stymie science in order to delay the toppling of their sacred cows.
The book is arranged into 23 chapters, divided among five parts. Part I describes his youth and the time leading up to the American expedition that would make him a legend. Part II describes his experiences gathering specimens and observations in Latin America, with a chapter about his meeting with Thomas Jefferson on his way back to Europe. Part III covers the period he spent in Europe after his expedition to the Americas. It was during this time that he wrote up his observations and hypotheses about nature. It was a productive time, but Humboldt missed nature. Part IV covers two important topics: the expedition through Russia and some of the more important ideas and people Humboldt influenced—e.g. Darwin. By this time he was well-known, and the books that had thus far come out were much in demand. Part V continues the theme of Humboldt’s influence on great thinkers, but with a focus on ideas that were a bit slower to develop.
I enjoyed this book. Interestingly, it follows a chronological format. That may seem a less than profound observation for a biography, but it’s less common to begin with the earlier years of life because those are typically the boring bits and there’s a desire to get into the meat of the story. (To some degree the author does this with a prologue that describes the Chimborazo trek.)
I’d recommend this book for those who are interested in science, ecology, and nature, as well as those interested in what it was like to make a scientific expedition in those days, well before Darwin.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 