Tag: woods

A Week In The Forest

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To leave it all behind,

pitched a tent near the water’s edge,

a place I would often fantasize

to be a stopping ground

the pain and fear of having to survive,

suddenly wrapped in the cool depths.

~

I looked around for no one,

only the animals in the deep wood,

wondering what creature I would be

to steal their space for a few days.

not knowing the sunlight and stars

would be my only way of remembering

I was borrowing their land

for a time.

~

I’m not going to talk much anymore,

I made a vow with myself

alone in the woods I set up a chair,

I could watch the lake for hours,

me and the woods,

and the silence except for nature,

the rustling of the brush,

singing cherubs in the trees

all seemed to be communicating with each other,

a head’s up about the guy,

in the chair.

~

I could easily make choices

in such a serene wood and fallen limb world,

just me and the world

that no one could see without some …

search party,

the ones that would find the reality

of a tired turn in the mind of a

traveler.

~

I was that journeyman if only for a day,

and then the next I returned to the concrete.

© Thom Amundsen 6/2021

A Forest in the Distance

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Walking through he woods

stepping with care

the brush up to my knees,

conscious of thistles, the mud, perhaps

even catching an ankle in a vine

taking a fall,

letting a branch scrape open forearms,

perhaps slamming my forehead

on rocks that lay clean

without disturbance nearly a century.

~

That occasion does arise,when the forest

remains deep in our mind,

as we navigate the confusion

in our lives,

this such is a mechanical lifestyle,

giving less credence to

the metaphysical nature of why it is,

why we are,

what the struggle means

to find our way,

the path of a chosen prophecy.

~

That epiphany I was compelled to imagine

as a child, that revelation remains in the woods

carrying upon itself the eyes of a heart and soul.

© Thom Amundsen 9/2020

Wausau 1979

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Try to imagine

where it was,

the moment

inside a memory,

what did the breeze feel like,

certainly there was one,

the glen inside a cove

surrounded in maples and pine,

and short shrifts of sumac

pine needles all across the forest wood

where we as children climbed

only the same tree,

familiar branches,

I sat there last year

he said to her,

as she wondered if or when he might

try to

kiss her

under the oak,

the childhood symbol of growing up,

at least,

understanding that

decades later,

the memory of which

might be less profound

than the immediacy of a heart racing

illusion

of

love,

in the eyes of two thirteen year old children,

holding hands on a public street,

smiles and backpacks and

acne and eyes that searched only for

each other

because

that is what we had been told

that is what we had been told,

is the meaning of love,

in a quiet midwestern town,

where concrete

could easily confuse

the very natural ground

we laid upon years later

with a lover

and smitten eyes.

© Thom Amundsen 2019

Taking A Walk

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a walk in the woods

quiet serene streamed light

we listen to silence

rustling breeze

we can hear the sound

begin from across the lake,

until in our world, we sense the true

nature of a forest,

maple, pine, birch,

a history of love in recluse

taking a walk

one day I realize

we are all the same

when climbing our trails

Deep In The Wood

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I did hear a scream,

It wasn’t a city street

A forest it would seem

To hold so many sound

The wind had calmed

Now in the distant mystique

A cry could be the sound.

 

An animal I would surmise

Caught in the moonlit stars

A bright horizon left exposed

This creature of the night,

Was simply pre-disposed

To use the carrying sound

To warn the world around.

 

Haven’t really known a way

Beyond the cover of my chance

I’m listening to the ground,

Yet only when I’m told

The locks have been changed

No new keys to be found,

You’re on your own, is Man.

 

A creature wild in the deep would

Forever find solace what calls wood.

In Finding Love

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We are this world of living human beings

Each of us do strive to privately soar

Beyond the scope of whom we might ignore

Only known, to live similar doings

 

We do each one of us wish to be known

Gather in our soul, deliver evil

From our seeming sacred hold, we might will

Now bury our misgiving left alone

 

Within the structure of our being we learn

To breathe, to weep, to listen with intent

For are not we all someway Heaven sent

While the Earth revolve, forever we yearn

 

For in the darkness, the stars be a guide

Toward everlasting love, might we, decide.

Aging Abandon

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I’ve watched their bodies change

while I try to recall just when

I began to notice.

I often wonder if while

my own world begins a

natural decay,

if that resilient nature

in understanding why

continues to grow,

or when does it wane.

How purposeful is our

inherent decline, and when

do we know it is happening,

or can we fool ourselves

right up to the end of a journey,

sort of similar to crossing the trail,

at the river’s edge.

We cannot remember

just how slippery the rocks

became that day we

finally decided to help

ourselves to the natural

surrounding woods.

These Keys

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wolves

In the woods, the wilderness evokes

a sound of rustling, twigs snapping, a breeze through leaves

that whisper a reality we cannot pretend away.

Instead we listen, we joy in the simple nature

of the forest in its pristine state,

always waiting, forever growing,

letting our lives appreciate its pure self.

This is a key to understanding our human nature.

When we leave the wood,

we return to today’s world in automation,

in electricity that which turns us on,

turns off when we need to disappear,

the engines whir in the hands of our own guidance

our responsibility,

we live by the sound of our activity,

This is a key to understanding our human nature.

I’m sitting down

I’m near tears without any reason why,

perhaps the music I’ve chosen,

possibly the state of mind I am in.

Been here before, felt it many times,

and on occasion chose a difficult path,

one that would eventually hurt my mind.

This is a key to understanding our human nature.

Why is it I can see through the forest,

I can understand how the world exists around me,

I know people adjust to one another,

while deep inside the wood, our nature is to imagine,

the wolves are waiting.

~

*picture found on tumblr

When I Lost My Way

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I won’t really ever recall the date,

Nor the notion,

I haven’t been able to understand,

Just how I ever really got this way,

How it is that when I think about it,

The same questions remain,

I continue to look for some solutions,

In other eyes,

I look to them for guidance,

They give me strange looks,

That pierce my heart,,

As I stand on the corner waiting,

My blood leaves my face,

Until a sallow man stands stumbling,

Unknowing of just how vulnerable,

A glance,

A moment of disparity

In someone else’s life

Hasn’t anything to do with his own.

Yet the light changed,

And progress always allows us to

Walk through the moment,

Take a breath,

Forget about the past,

Because it is not fair to one another,

Especially now, today,

You are still my romantic muse

Years later, I cannot imagine a happier

Encounter,

Back then I did lose my way,

Today, I can still remember,

I wish walking were an easier

Way to say hello

Rather than having to create a new avenue.

Moments

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It is here that I wait

Every day,

Each time I feel like I am close

The shift is apparent,

Once again, left to imagine,

Without circling any reality.

If I could imagine the beauty of a flower,

Rising through the soil

Arching its naked back,

Vulnerable to the rain skies,

A harsh wind,

The natural bounty of the earth,

Any manner of breeze or

The heavy step of man,

We are all just that close

To having our stems broken

By the reality of our pain,

Always waiting nearby,

Hanging around,

Like shadows along the alleyway,

Never loud,

Always there,

Just waiting,

Wondering if you could ever mind,

Actually having their presence,

Let you,

Just allow you the one time,

To step inside, and view your life from afar,

Where they stood,

Just waiting,

Mock less your reasoning.