Welcome to Poems & Essays. I think most of you will agree that a connection to nature is important for all of us. Moments we share with family, friends, or to just be by ourselves. To breathe in fresh air, watch the beautiful sky overhead, feel the breeze on our faces. And along with that, hearing birds sing, smelling the flowers, and watching the tree branches sway in the wind. Whether you are walking on a path in the Appalachians, watching the waves crash on the Pacific coast, sitting at the edge of a mesa and just taking in the incredible view in front of you, or watching the tall prairie grass ripple in the wind, no matter where you are, you can be outdoors. For moments, an afternoon, an entire day. Technology is a wonderful thing – my website would be nowhere without it. But it is easy to be so engrossed with what is on a screen that you forget about the natural world. For me, connections in the virtual world are insubstantial and fleeting. My real connections are with earth, sky, and water. Forests and wetlands. Deserts and mountains. Shores and plains. A national park or my backyard. And in our world today, it is easy to get absorbed in influencers, celebrities, news, podcasts, and social media to the exclusion of so many other things. Let’s all use this space to remind each other – and ourselves – that there is a world outside of our screens. A world of incredible beauty and adventure, where there are connections to everything, and where we can feel joy and awe. A world in which human prejudice, anger, and insults simply have no place.
Please click on “Submit your story” to send your essays and poetry to me and I will post them. Please include whatever form of your name you would like me to use. And include the state in which you live – including your town is optional. For example: John Doe from San Francisco might want his name as John from California or John D. from San Francisco. Your decision. The important thing is to share with all of us your connections to nature be they funny or poignant. Linda