Tag: The Poetics of Space
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Homecoming Remix
Over the last year and a half I have scrutinized the notion of home and my personal perspective on “homeness“. I’ve discovered that the experience of homecoming is perhaps one of the best barometers for indicating where (and with whom) we feel most at home. So today I offer you a homecoming remix — a…
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Earth Day
Without being cute or hyperbolic, *every* day at Rosslyn is Earth Day. Healthy, sustainable, holistic practice — from construction and gardening to eating and personal wellness, responsible land stewardship to ecological wildlife guardianship — was fundamental to the lifestyle changes we made two decades ago when we exited life in Manhattan and started fresh on…
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Enclosure
A mid morning meditation on enclosure inspired by ongoing deliberations on the height and porosity of the privacy fence that will screen the mechanicals, propane tank, etc. behind the carriage barn (south of the icehouse terrace). So muchdepends upona borderenfolding,a framedefining,a hedge ora tree linescreening,veiling,a yardencompassing,a paddockor a stycontaining,a ringencircling,a cageconfining,a courtyard’ssanctuarysheltering,a harborprotecting,an embracewelcoming andnurturing…
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Lumbering Home
Hymn-along a song ofhomegrown timber,harvested within sightof the renewed icehouse.Hum, drum, and struman anthem hailinghyper local lumberloved, labored, arrayed.Felled and milled on site,then stickered and stacked,courses upon courses,a dozen years cured,between hemlock floor,and fir paneled walls,ceiling stained from fivequarter centuries.Once towering ash,elm, and poplar treesreborn as flooring,balusters, newels, railings. Canopied colossimetamorphosed intostair treads and risers,door…
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Misty Sundown
So many variations of a perfect sunrise, a breathtaking sunset, and yet — like spoiled children — we yearn for more. More colorful. More dramatic. More lingering. But, this misty sundown redefined the limits. Moody dome. Warm light, gently filtered. Colors few, but saturation intense. And mist. Ground-clinging, gossamer haze blurring the ground-to-trees transition. Mysterious.…
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Hedging
This summer of rain our evergreen hedges have rioted, sprouting enthusiastically, reaching upward and outward, unruly, wayward. Time for hedging! So much water and months of temperate weather have invigorated our well-established yews and hemlocks. As we’re only a week and a half from flipping the calendar from summer to autumn, we decided it was…
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Drizzly Day
A September drizzly day after a summer of drizzly days — drizzly daze — like no other in collective memory. Cultivating contemplation. Still more questions than answers, but there’s a subtle coalescence of ideas, words, convictions. A year and more of liminal space. And a journey that’s only beginning to begin. Drizzly Day Poem Drizzly…
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Peach Haikus
Today’s a day for peach haikus. With blustery storm incoming, our team concerned about balancing inclement weather reports with an ambitious 4-day scope of work, and the sort of bone-deep chill that shivers the bones and shakes the confidence, I propose that we take a micro-vacation. How’s that? Let’s flip the calendar back to sunny…
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What Makes a House a Home?
At the root of Rosslyn Redux is a question. What makes a house a home? Simple question. Less simple answer. More precisely, the answers to what makes a house a home are diverse and possibly even evolving — slowly, perpetually — as we live our lives. What defines “homeness” as a child likely differs as…
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Autumn Landscape Poetry
TGIF… time to put another log on the fire, pour yourself something refreshing, and unwind for a moment together. Busy-ness and a continuous cascade of commitments can gradually hypnotize us during the weekly hurly-burly, so let’s take a few minutes to exhale and redirect our attention at this dramatic time of year. Transformation all around…
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Homestead Haikus
I often refer to Rosslyn as a homestead, but I’m aware that might mislead some of you. No livestock. That’s probably the biggest deviation from most self proclaimed homesteads. No chickens. No pigs, sheep, or goats. No milk cow. No 160 acre land grant (though we’ve slowly grown Rosslyn’s acreage to more than a third…
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September Poems
Boathouse Bonfire, September 27, 2014 (Source: Geo Davis) If September poems sound overly sentimental to you or if you’re inclined to a grittier observance of the almost-upon-us Autumn Equinox, I’ve got you covered. Soon. Stay tuned. But if you’re comfortable lingering briefly — and these poems are, if nothing else, brief — in the seasonality…