National Poetry Month

It's beginning again.  For the third year in a row I am participating in Napowrimo (National Poetry Writing Month) by writing a poem a day.  Many of them will show up here.  The early bird prompt is to write a poem about birds.  So here's my first attempt.

Tail Feathers

 I saw a heron fly off from the pond today.

Truth be told 

I heard the whoosh of its wings

and caught sight of its tail feathers 

before it was obscured by the trees 

that lined the open space.

This is the way we see most wild things—

Indistinct,

Blurry.

Sometimes the wild things

in my heart are just as hard to observe.

I think I am on the trail,

close to Hope,

the little bird that keeps so many warm*,

nearing Dreams,

the raptor that lifts to new heights.

But then, with a whoosh

and a flap of the wings,

they are out of sight,

leaving behind a longing,

a hope of another encounter,

another brush with mystery.

______________________________________

This poem was inspired by an essay in Boundary Waters by Paul Gruchow.

This line comes from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

Guest Post by Phil Kiper: How Did We Get Here?

How Did We Get Here?

I was looking at posts from my Facebook friends a few weeks ago when I came upon a post from one of my former students, a very nice young lady.  She didn’t write the post but had simply shared it.  The post contained a picture of a man standing beside a very large tree that he had just felled.  The butt end of the tree had a vibrant red color showing along some of the rings of the tree.  The author of the post was explaining that the tree was a dogwood tree and that the tree was “bleeding” to give testimony that Jesus had been crucified on a dogwood tree.  The author alleged that at the time of Jesus, the dogwood tree was a much larger tree, and that after the crucifixion, God had cursed the tree, causing it to be much smaller and twisted in such a manner as to not allow for it to ever again be used as a tool for crucifixion.

I have heard this legend before but often only in relation to the beautiful flower of the dogwood, which, when in bloom, has four petals with dark spots resembling a cross. This story is a Christian legend of unknown origin, but like all legends and stories, they have their place in our culture and can serve as a moment of reflection or even inspiration for some.  

I have no interest in debating any legend or story and don’t fault others for enjoying them; however, the Facebook post picture, noted above, alleged to be of a bleeding dogwood tree.  The problem for me as an avid woodturner is that the picture wasn’t a dogwood at all, but a box elder tree.  Now I never comment about much of anything on Facebook, but I really thought that my observation and experience might be an aid to the author of the bleeding dogwood tree post.  I really was trying to save the author and all of his followers from praising God for a picture of a lowly box elder tree which I doubt had even had the distinction of being cursed by the God of the universe for the purpose of a worship aid of dubious origin.

What happened is that as I was slowly typing my observation of the non-bleeding dogwood tree, the social media crowd had gotten into a big debate over the legend of the bleeding dogwood.  When I entered the fray with my box elder observation, the blood was already in the water, and I, apparently, was fresh meat.  My Christian faith was questioned as well as my intellect, my love of God and country, and my own personal family tree.  I didn’t add any further comments, but this went on for a couple of hours.

How did we get here?  How is it possible for people of faith to argue over a legend which certainly doesn’t exists anywhere in the Bible and vehemently defend the picture of a tree which is blatantly wrong in its identification?  How is it possible for non-believers to get all excited about Christians who, though strong in faith, are perhaps poor arborists?  I wish both groups the best of luck, but I will remain out of the debate.  The next time I see a picture of any misidentified tree, cursed or not cursed by God, I will remain silent.  Both groups are the lesser for the loss of me and others who may have factual information but have been bullied out of the forum.

As for the original picture of the bleeding dogwood tree, which was, of course, a box elder, it is a pretty interesting story.  Box elder trees, members of the maple family, are often infested by ambrosia beetles when they begin to age and become distressed.  The beetles excavate a tunnel in the tree where they release spores of fungal symbiont.  These fungal spores attack the tree by spreading up and down the sap rings of the tree.  For reasons unknown to me, this fungus in box elders creates a beautiful coral red dye that runs up and down the sap rings of the tree.  These ambrosia beetles attack other trees, creating fungal colors which are mostly dark but often beautiful.  I quickly recognized the tree in the Facebook post because I have turned many bowls and vases out of the wood of these trees.  Dogwood is also a beautiful wood, but the wood is very hard.  Because of this, ambrosia beetles do not often attack dogwoods.  The wood from the dogwood tree is perfect for the handles of tools and other objects that require dense, close grained wood.

As for beetles, there are more than 400,000 species of beetles in the world.  They represent 40% of all the insects in the world and 25% of all known animal life forms.  A famous biologist, J.B.S Haldane, when asked by a reporter, “What, if anything, have you learned of the nature of God?”  He replied, “He is inordinately fond of beetles.”

Since my retirement, I have had much more time to reflect on life and the existence and nature of God.  I spend a great deal of time by myself in nature just quietly observing.  If you asked me what I have learned of the nature of God, I would say that He is inordinately fond of order.  Maybe my Facebook friends should suspend arguments about legends and quietly contemplate the order of our natural world.  As for me, I don’t need divinely altered bleeding dogwoods. The simple and natural handiwork of the ambrosia beetle is enough.

Some pieces I made from box elder.

  

Guest Post by Phil Kiper: Coronado the Capitalist

Coronado the Capitalist

I have always thought of myself as a capitalist, but a few days ago I stood in the New Mexico Museum of History in Sante Fe and read a small plaque describing the invasion of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado into what is now New Mexico and Arizona in 1540.  He began in Mexico with 350 soldiers along with 1000 or so Mexican indians who were intimidated or coerced into joining him on his quest. He headed north in search of the mythical “Seven Cities of Gold”.  His expedition lasted two years, covered some 5000 miles, and cost hundreds of Native American and Spanish lives.  He found no gold and returned to Mexico City in disgrace.  Native peoples of New Mexico came to expect violence in future encounters. 

He did not return in disgrace because of the incredible violence he perpetrated on native peoples whom he slaughtered and often tortured for information about the fictitious cities of gold.  He returned in disgrace because he did not return capital (gold) for the expenditures of his investors.  No one questioned the atrocities.  He failed because he did not deliver expected financial gains.  His expedition was a textbook capitalist venture.  

I was taught that it is always risk versus reward in capitalism.  That is true, but there is a third element, humanity.  There is often a severe human price to pay for financial gain.  History has recorded scores of these.  Coronado lived 500 years ago, but there is still a human price to pay for the return of capital.

If you think these things surely must not happen in today’s modern age, you should think again.  If you want to learn of one recent example, just watch the Netflix series, “Dirty Money.”  The episode, “The Wagon Wheel”  exposes the horrid abuses of Wells Fargo Bank leading up to their exposure by whistleblowers and a free American press in 2016.  Their practice of “cross selling” set unrealistic quotas on low level employees and put huge pressure on managers to sell an impossible number of products or face losing their jobs.  As a result of this, employees signed clients up for multiple products they did not request and had no reason to need.  They specifically preyed on elderly adults, non-english speaking Americans, and college students.  When these sources ran out, they just made up random social security numbers and assigned numerous products to each.  

In reality, it was costing the company money, but investors loved the growth, and stock prices flourished. When the truth finally surfaced, the CEO, John Stumpf, resigned, not fired, and received a “golden parachute” retirement package of $115 million.  Congress conducted hearings and leveled fines, the last of which was $1 billion.  That must have been tough on Wells Fargo.  Just recently Congress gave Americans a huge tax cut which helped few middle and lower income Americans but allowed Wells Fargo to recoup their losses, plus a few billion, with plenty of money left over to buy back their stock at a reduced price due to their transgressions.

I guess I am still a capitalist.  It is the best way to gain wealth for individuals willing to borrow or spend capital and take the risk of losing it all.  If they win, they often employ thousands of people and make the world a better place.  I am afraid that what is happening now is that employees in America are not being compensated fairly by their employers who are making huge gains in the value of their stock even when their companies are not profitable, see Amazon for example.

Capitalism must be checked and closely regulated by our representatives in government and our free press.  I am afraid the lessons of Coronado have not been learned.  If Coronado had some lawyers and had paid millions to the campaigns of the Spanish leaders, he could have spun his adventure, bumped up his stock prices and resigned with a “golden parachute” instead of in disgrace. What a loser!