One of the most beautiful experiences of life is to find balance and flow around us.  It is a great joy to experience a deep relationship with nature.  Nature is the Poem could alternatively be entitled, Poetry is Nature.  This shows the profound connection between poetry and nature.   The following activities give you something to do outside the house, to benefit your poetic development, plus bring you closer to nature.

The Forest is Falling Leaf by Leaf

This activity can be done in a local park, or if possible, take a day trip into the country. 

Walk into the park or forest and sit down on the bare earth.  Look around, watching and waiting for leaves to fall.  As each leaf falls to the ground, imagine what it says to you.  Listen for its dying words.  Let each different colour and type of leaf speak for the tree as it slowly dances to the ground.  What do you learn from the falling leaves?

This is an exercise in patience, plus practice in observation skill.  Combine your observation with imagination and you have all the material needed for a poem.  To make your poem more interesting, arrange your words on the page to look like falling leaves rather than straight lines of poetry.

The Final Drop of Rain

This activity can be done in your garden, although it will be more inspiring if you get away from your usual environment.  Go beyond the places you normally visit.  Breaking your routine will help you get into a poetic mood.

This technique works best with drops of rain, but it also works if you are in the park while the gardeners are watering the flowers.  Sit down comfortably, breathe deeply, and enjoy a natural, poetic moment to yourself.  Look for droplets of water resting peacefully on the leaves of a plant or tree.  Imagine you are the final drop of water waiting to fall from a leaf.  Closely observe the silence as you linger on the leaf, looking down on the grass below you.  You have a moment to compose your final words.  What do you say? 

Listen for the sound of your splash.  Take notes concerning your personal feelings combined with your imagined feelings as a drop of rain.  From your notes, create a personal interpretation of nature in your poem.

The Melody of a Bird

Go to the park and listen to the melody of a bird.  Listen to other birds as they answer with their own songs.  What are the words to the birds’ graceful song?  What wisdom do birds perceive that humans can't seem to understand?  Give the birds a voice and let them speak through your poem. Imagine what they say to each other and what they say to you.

Alternatively, you can lazily lie in bed and listen to the bird in your neighbour’s birdcage.  Listen to the whistling and imagine what the caged bird is communicating to you. 

Falling Drops of Musical Rain

We spend most of our urban lives avoiding the rain.  This exercise teaches us to be contrary, to go against what most people consider to be normal.  Go outside during a rainstorm and listen carefully to the falling drops as if each were a musical note. 

Imagine the rainstorm as a natural song.  What instruments could you use to play this song?  Imagine the rain song played by a flute, a cello, or a drum.  What words can accompany and reflect the sounds bouncing on various surfaces?  Describe your experience using music vocabulary relating to natural sounds.