DeKorte August 31, 2020

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being a tree

The mosaic pattern visible in my skin

My smooth soft vulnerable container

Thickening into creases of rough hard bark

If I were a tree grown up and old

Rooted in the place where I began life

Determined to make the best of my circumstances

Developing using local resources only

If I were a tree standing here now

Walking among the big trees in these woods

Under their high canopy of green leaves

The span of history held in their growth rings

Extends beyond any person alive today 

Responding to the personified structure of trees

With limbs for arms and a trunk for a torso

Inviting a hug from admirers passing by

If you want to embrace nature 

The story of all that they have witnessed

Known only to these giant individuals 

Whispers to us in the rustling leaves

If you stop to listen to the forest

Monks Mountain August 30, 2020

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Wallkill NWR August 26, 2020

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trapped

As the start of a new school year arrives

You're on your own trying to figure it out

Being forced into impossible choices

Caught in the personal responsibility trap

If only there could be in person instruction

Without everyone present getting exposed

As if the precautions in the plans could work

What is obviously wishful thinking

There is no good answer in any case

Remote instruction misses out on social learning

So important for developing a sense of self 

So necessary to build consideration for others 

When the day comes to make the difficult decision 

Between the problematic safety of isolation at home

And the probable contagion risk of the classroom

Practical concerns will likely hold sway

Who is going be available to help out

When the parents are working as they must

Will any accommodations for the teachers

Actually make them any safer or not

And so it comes down to this

Absent the funding and leadership

To do what it takes to protect the community

People will suffer needlessly

maintaining the preserve

We who have a personal history with the place

Watching the changes in vegetation over the years

Recognizing the succession of invaders of the land

Know that a natural area must be tended like a garden. 

Of course it depends how you define natural

Since John Fell's peat bog harvesting was not

And the subsequent celery farm cultivation was not

Along with the current impacts of us as human invaders. 

Here it means an area set aside as a restoration project

A watery island in the sea of development around it

An oasis of sorts for wildlife in need of suitable habitat

If we encourage the conditions for them to thrive. 

Every wetlands will fill in and get overgrown over time

As the natural progression happens without our intervention

But so many species of plants now taking root and taking over

Provide little nourishment to the creatures that live here. 

They are the newest arrivals in the great global dispersal

Engineered as an unintended consequence of international trade

Too soon yet for the eventual local adaptation to occur

The way the European roadside weeds now seem native.

At present we have to weed them out in a constant battle

The bane of gardeners whose work is never done

The porcelain berry, mustard garlic, phragmites and many more

Calling for a dedicated crew to maintain the preserve

Ringwood Manor August 21, 2020

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