birds – ecopoë

Serendipity goes by her own schedule. There are times in life where she graces you with her presence in regular glimmers, reminding you of the mystery and wonder that life can hold. I’ve also had periods where it feels like she has, if not deserted, at least taken an extended hiatus to a distant land where she’s considering setting up permanent shop.

Whether it’s because of the nature of the place, or because I’m paying more attention these days, serendipity does seem to like to make surprise appearances in Desolation Sound. Like, this day, when I was trying to test the line from this solar panel to the new Jackery power bank that my husband got. Solar power is our life line up here. While I’m using butane for my stove and gas for my boat (another long story as we started out with a 9.5’ tender with an e-motor and I had hoped to stay electric, but it wasn’t really feasible for me to do that…yet), for all our electronics and our power tools, the sun is our source of power. Which makes Desolation Sound a little bit like a solar punk lab, testing the limits of what regular folks can do to not just survive but thrive when detached from grid power. But solar punk isn’t just about using renewable power now and then. It has to go harder. It’s punk after all. So, I’ve been thinking about what solar punk might actually look like out here.

So, back to the Jackery power bank. As I was saying, it wasn’t charging for some reason, and I saw that there was a little console on the cord where you could plug in a USB, and so I plugged in my phone to it to test it. To my surprise and delight it started charging my phone directly! “Wow!”, I thought to myself, “That is so cool! It’s like I’m plugged right into the sun. Could that be classified as solar punk?” And then, as I was thinking this thought, serendipity came along and gave me my answer…

Before the blogging begins, a breath. An invitation. A call to action. A poem.

I go to Mary Oliver’s book, Red Bird, on those days when poetry is the only answer to a the shadow that gnaws at the corners of the world.

Invitation

Oh do you have time
        to linger
                for just a little while
                       out of your busy

and very important day
        for the goldfinches
                that have gathered
                       in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
        to see who can sing
                the highest note,
                       or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
        or the most tender?
                Their strong, blunt beaks
                       drink the air

as they strive
        melodiously
                not for your sake
                       and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
        but for sheer delight and gratitude—
                believe us, they say,
                       it is a serious thing

just to be alive
        on this fresh morning
                in the broken world.
                       I beg of you,

do not walk by
        without pausing
                to attend to this
                       rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

~ Mary Oliver ¹

gold-finches-tony-pratt2 — Photo by Tony Pratt

A private person, Mary Oliver has given few interviews in her career. This, in the age of the selfie, and in spite of her winning the Pulitzer Prize, National Book award and being recognized by the New York Times as “far and away, this country’s best selling poet.”²But I’m OK with that, because then Mary can concentrate on the more important things in life, like stopping to linger and listen—really listen—to the birds

If you have never heard a goldfinch sing, you can hear their song, thanks to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Macaulay Library.

References:

Oliver, Mary. 2008. Red Bird. Poems by Mary Oliver. Beacon Press. Boston. p. 18 (Amazon link)
Source: Mary Oliver official bio.

Note that if you learn about and buy any of the books from any of the Amazon links above, this will contribute funds to help continue the work on this blog, thank-you.

Save

“They live on the edge, between the village and the forest… messengers… travellers, moving between worlds.” ~Jay Griffiths

Tag: birds

Desolation Solar Punk

An Invitation