passion for place
  • Home
  • Passion for Place Blog
  • Upcoming Events
  • Original Paintings available
  • Inside Passion for Place
    • Authors and Interviewees
    • Sounds From the Watershed
    • Excerpts from Passion for Place
    • Sample Pages
  • Contact/where Passion for Place is sold
  • Praise for Passion for Place
  • Press Coverage
  • Resources/Links
  • RSVP for Workshops/Events
    • We Are Water Retreat 2014
    • RSVP for Summer Solstice Event, 2013
    • World Rivers Day Event, 2013
    • RSVP for Fall Equinox/WritingWorkshop/World Rivers Day Events, 2013
  • FAQ
  • Passion for Place II
  • Bioregional Imagination
  • Passion for Place is Getting Around!
  • Carmel River Watershed Learning Map
  • Media Kit

This is Oak Community

11/1/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
UPDATE to this post
The Monterey Downs project is dead. The developer could not follow through when it came to indemnify the city of Seaside. The developer was not willing to put any more money towards the proposal.

The land could still be developed and a parkway road is planned for part of the land which would take down 11,000 oaks and associated habitat. That decision has yet to be finalized by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority. Landwatch Monterey County is involved in future steps regarding this land. Go to their website to learn more.

This photo montage received an Honorable Mention in the Seaside City Hall/ Avery Gallery art show.  This land is the land in question regarding the Monterey Downs Development. It would all be bulldozed. This is an historic landscape of over 500 acres that we cannot  lose!  The Seaside City Council will be taking the vote on November 10 on whether or not to take the next step to approve this monstrous and devastating project.
Here is the long poem that is on the banner:

This is Oak Community

Ant to bobcat
Fairy shrimp to mountain lion
Manzanita to many-limbed oak,
twisting to the sky, turning to sun,
stretching with the wind.
Mule deer browsing, lichen swaying,
enriching gentle coastal land.
This is Oak Community.

Infinite network,
flitting, singing, calling birds.
Yellow, gold, red,
Iridescent blue.
Fuchsia, white and black.
Towhee, sparrow, warbler, vireo,
Common poorwill.
Coyote, badger, co-operative hunters
Ground squirrel, Western fence lizard,
Coast horned lizard.
Pacific tree frog, California legless lizard.
Blending with their surroundings,
many residing in the cool earth.
Monterey dusky-footed woodrat,
home and village creator extraordinaire.
Monterey ornate shrew, 1200 heart beats a minute--
Big-eared Townsend’s bat, pallid bat,
dining on multitudes of insects in the night sky.
Relationships, delicate as
the spider webs bushtits use
to build their nests.
This is Oak Community.

Sweetness of manzanita, nectar of honeysuckle,
hummingbird zipping.
Lupin and ceanothus, perfumed pungency.
West coast lady, fiery skipper, red admiral and monarch.
Honey bee, bumble bee, native bee, swallowtail.
Shooting star, buttercup, tidy tip,
poppies and pollen dust.
Scent of black sage, Eastwood’s golden fleece.
Lingering autumn, garnet red leaves of three.
Winter rains, decomposing plant matter,
Mychorrhizal partnership, Kingdom Fungi!
This is Oak Community.

Tender toes traversing
spiky leaves and soft soil.
Acorns setting roots, red shoots pushing through.
California Tiger salamander, now reaching vernal pond,
one purpose.
Eggs like pearls, cycle of life,
Forever circling,
As the red-shouldered hawk and white-tailed kite
spirals around you,
This --
is Oak Community.


Paola Berthoin, 2016
2 Comments
Ariane
11/2/2016 02:57:28 am

What a magnificent poem!

Reply
Paola link
11/2/2016 08:40:41 am

Thank You, Ariane! In sharing the poem last week at an event, another person was quite moved by it, brought tears to her eyes.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author
    Paola Berthoin is the designer/creator/publisher of  Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed. Her focus is inspiring and educating people about the natural world through the arts. She is available to design your book, create (illustrate and write) interpretive materials for your watershed community, consult for healthy gardens, paint a commissioned painting of your favorite place in the Carmel River Watershed and beyond!


    When we allow wildness, our own spirit, to flourish within, we can also respect and allow nature’s spirit, the wild outside, to exist.
             - Paola Fiorelle Berthoin
                                                                                                                                                               

    Blog photographs, land art, and text © Paola Berthoin, unless otherwise noted. 
    All Rights Reserved.

    Picture
    Photograph © Marie Butcher

    Archives

    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Balance
    Birds
    Land Art
    Meditation
    Regeneration
    Symmetry

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.