Saturday, October 8, 2011

Goose Tales

I worry about paddling through life with my head in the mud wondering why I'm getting water up my nose, but not really knowing how to right myself either. Suffocation comes easily for those of us pata allegres, wanderers with happy feet.  At the wildlife refuge today, flocks of geese landed and departed, honked their hellos and good-byes, as I thought about Mary Oliver's poem Wild Geese. These lines specifically: Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.


Later, and deeper into the refuge, I stopped to review my photography notes. I wasn't getting any pictures, and was beginning to lose focus of my project. I simply wasn't seeing anything.  
Who knew I was being watched?  



Mantids are able to turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings. They have three simple eyes located between two large compound eyes.

Isn't that the kindness of the world sometimes? To be seen when you can't see.  




As it goes with wildlife, we eyeballed each other for awhile. With its five eyes it clearly had the advantage, and soon determined there was nothing more to see. With that, this three inch predator blended into its surroundings so perfectly, so seamlessly, that all that was left was a picture and a question.

                                               for whom is this refuge? 

3 comments:

  1. I love your thought about kindness. Very thought provoking blog. I'm looking forward to the next one. ;)

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  2. Lisa--Thanks for doing this. Very inspiring. Also, I love your perceptions, and I'm glad you have a fitting place to put them. That poem "Wild Geese" is one of my favorites. I love the beginning of it:
    You do not have to be good.
    You do not have to walk on your knees
    For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
    You only have to let the soft animal of your body
    love what it loves.

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  3. Thanks you guys, and thanks for following my blog too! I'm glad you're liking it so far. I love those lines too - Mary Oliver is one of my favorites.

    Happy Monday! Bah humbug. ;-)

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