Connecting to nature through poetry and prose
We have entered the micro-season of “The Sky is Cold, Winter Comes”. This is the first micro-season of the mini-season Major Snow. To celebrate this season, we will learn about how the Earth’s orbit around the Sun impacts our seasonal temperatures and then read haiku by Buson, Issa, Basho, Taigi, and Toshimi.
In 2022, March’s full moon arrives on March 18. This full moon has many different names including the worm moon, sap moon, crow moon, and the Lenten moon. Today we explore the meaning behind these names and some special March inspired poetry.
Basho's poem about the moon glow and the drifting clouds makes me think about the Buddhist teaching of the Two Truths. However, I wanted to know what other people thought. So I asked and what I learned was pretty fascinating.
From Li Bai, to Kobayashi Issa, to Wallace Stevens, poets across time have tried to capture the moon’s mysterious nature into verse. Today we have seven examples of the moon’s presence in the poetic form.
Naturalist Weekly 