\u201c\u2018In some Native languages the term for plants translates to \u201cthose who take care of us.\u201d – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass <\/p>\n
I knew from a very young age
\nmy connection to the land
\nNo small feat for a city kid<\/p>\n
Every summer would find me at
\nHorseshoe Lake, nestled in
\nthe Minnesota Northwoods<\/p>\n
Grandparent\u2019s retirement haven
\nbecame the same to me
\nonce allowed my freedom to roam<\/p>\n
By age nine I knew every inch of
\nthose Mission Township woods
\nsounds, smells, tastes, textures<\/p>\n
Woods have always called me
\nbeckoning when I needed them
\nembracing me when I arrived<\/p>\n
An inquisitive kid, I knew who
\nI could ask about anything:
\nMr. Hanson knew fishing<\/p>\n
His wife was the bird expert
\ntheir neighbor, Mrs. Wheeler
\nwas my go-to for stars, sky<\/p>\n
Mr. Friest understood my
\nspiritual nature, connections
\nMr. Holm found me amusing<\/p>\n
Old Man Reid knew wood
\ngrandma, grandpa knew a lot
\nabout a whole bunch of things<\/p>\n
They all knew me and how I took
\nto the woods, the water, them.
\nThey knew what the woods did.<\/p>\n
‘This kid from the big city?
\nHere is where he belongs.
\nThis kid is one of us.’<\/p>\n
\u2013 Mark L. Lucker
\n\u00a9 2020
\nhttp:\/\/lrd.to\/sxh9jntSbd<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201c\u2018In some Native languages the term for plants translates to \u201cthose who take care of us.\u201d – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass I knew from a very young age my connection to the land No small feat for a city kid Every summer would find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3865,3442],"class_list":["post-72476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","tag-2020hr14","tag-2020poetrymarathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79425,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72476\/revisions\/79425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}