"What Have I Learned" by Gary Snyder

Calochortus, mariposa lily

What have I learned but

the proper use for several tools?

The moments

between hard pleasant tasks

To sit silent, drink wine,

and think my own kind

of dry crusty thoughts.

—the first Calochortus flowers

and in all the land,

it’s spring.

I point them out:

the yellow petals, the golden hairs,

to Gen.

Seeing in silence:

never the same twice,

but when you get it right,

you pass it on.

"What Have I Learned" by Gary Snyder from No Nature. © Pantheon Books, 1992.

"Map" by Gary Snyder

A hill, a farm,

A forest, and a valley.

Half a hill plowed, half woods.

A forest valley and a valley field.

Sun passes over;

Two solstices a year

Cow in the pasture

Sometimes deer

A farmhouse built of wood.

A forest built on bones.

The high field, hawks

The low field, crows

Wren in the brambles

Frogs in the creek

Hot in summer

Cold in snow

The woods fade and pass.

The farm goes on.

The farm quits and fails

The woods creep down

Stocks fall you can't sell corn

Big frost and tree-mice starve

Who wins who cares?

The woods have time.

The farmer has heirs.

“Map” by Gary Snyder from Left Out in the Rain. © Shoemaker & Hoard Publishers, 2005.

"Late October Camping in the Sawtooths" by Gary Snyder

Catherine Hyde

          Sunlight climbs the snowpeak

       glowing pale red

Cold sinks into the gorge

       shadows merge.

      Building a fire of pine twigs

       at the foot of a cliff,

            Drinking hot tea from a tin cup

       in the chill air—

               Pull on sweater and roll a smoke.

       a leaf

       beyond fire

       Sparkles with nightfall frost.

"Late October Camping in the Sawtooths" by Gary Snyder from Left Out in the Rain. © Shoemaker Hoard, 2005.