Rocks are teachers

Landguaging with plants: The Dandelion Project (by Rhonda Chung)

~ Blog Editor ~ Leave a comment 
A splash of water. 
A cocoon of dirt. 
That spark of germination that sets us afoot.   

Spiraling through the ground. 
Arms unfolding wide. 
Legs tunneling through the dark of time.   

Rooting in place. 
Drinking the sun. 
Plants teach us just how wild we can become.

The language of plants has been capturing our imaginations since we first evolved onto land. Rocks are our 3-billion-year-old ancestors, moving in a time and space that is inconceivable to our 200-thousand-year-old imaginations. Plants are our second oldest teachers, outpacing us by 500 million years.

Continue reading →

Rocks Are Our Oldest Teachers (by Rhonda Chung)

~ Blog Editor ~ Leave a comment

This blog post includes a linked audio file. Just click on the link below if you would like to hear the post read aloud. Scroll down to read the text.

PART 1
“Rocks Are Our Oldest Teachers”

Everything starts in the middle.
Consequences of the roads before, pave the way for what comes next.
Always in the middle.

This piece started two years ago.
It’s not finished.
It’s in the middle.
 
I wanted to answer her question:
Where do you come from?
But without words.

I could’ve written this piece with thousands of words. 
Hundreds of metaphors.
But I made the decision to:

Turn away from words. 

The only languages I’m fluent in are colonial ones. 
It’s been enough of their phonemes.
Enough of their syntax that binds.

Turn away from words.

I look instinctively towards my hands.
What could they do?
My ancestors made these hands.

They author with me. 
My child, too.
All hands on deck!

I’m here in the middle.
Between generations.
Consequences of the roads before, pave the way for what comes next.

Always in the middle.
This piece is not finished.
It’s in the middle.



The Continents
Continue reading →