852: Forestbathing (or Trees)

Today’s poem is Forestbathing (or Trees) by francine j. harris. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “As we stroll slowly beneath the earth’s giants, amidst fungi, moss, lichen, and ferns, we are being workshopped in dappled light. What’s restorative isn’t merely the smells and sounds of woodlands, chirping birds and glimpses of wildlife. We are forced to confront the illusions of modern life. We are awash with a simplicity that takes us to idylls of clarity, that encourages introspection. We are reoriented toward human’s first encounter with beauty. It might be, too, that the trees, in communicating amongst themselves across distances, connect us even more to earth’s innate will toward life.”

Om Podcasten

Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and the lives of others, to help us live creatively and compassionately, to use that attention to lean into wonder, and joy, and truth, and to find hope — to keep hoping. The Slowdown community knows that reflecting on a poem, every weekday, can connect us to our inner world and the world around us. Listen as you make your morning coffee, as you go on a walk in your neighborhood, as you pull away from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.