From Field Guide to the Art of Looking: a year wandering the Brown County woods.
The snow caught in the grooves of oak tree bark is enough to stop me in my tracks. The snow cupped in the seed pods of the wild yam is enough to make me forget the temperature. That orange mushroom would have been reason enough to walk this far in the cold.
Oh, to stand in this glittery forest forever! To listen to the pileated woodpecker thunk & thunk. To leave my own footprints in three inches of fresh snow, proof, at least for a while, that I was there. I was there.
Snow like dust collecting on the thinnest branches, on the tiny fluff of last autumn’ s asters, last summer’ s black eyed Susan seeds. Each beech leaf cradles snow. Each turkey tail mushroom a little shelf for holding snow. Snowflakes caught in old spiders’ webs, tiny garlands in the winter woods.
— Michele Pollock Jan./ Feb. 2023 • Our Brown County 53