new poem and translations in _dappled things_

October 5, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

dappled things has just released their new issue, in which i have one original poem and three translations of old english galdru. while i do encourage any and all to buy a copy, thankfully, they’ve made mine accessible on the issue’s webpage as well. you can read the original here and the translations here.

this is a particularly satisfying publication for me because 1) the poem is about my extended family and our time together in different areas i have great fondness for, 2) the translations are of galdru (“charms”) which i think are some of the most interesting material remnants of early medieval culture, and 3) dappled things was where my first ever poem, a triolet about st. levan’s in cornwall, appeared almost a decade ago now. thanks, dappled things!

here’s that triolet, in case you have an interest:

st. levan’s well

we walked along a forest path

and drank from selevan’s well.

for a moment, we lived the past;

we walked along a forest path.

and tho’ we knew it wouldn’t last

as the spring flowed to the wind-swept swell,

we walked along a forest path

and drank from selevan’s well.

sna poems #102: mayville ledge beech-maple woods

October 4, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

mayville ledge beech-maple woods is very much what it sounds like, tho’ “ledge” in this case refers very specifically to the exposed niagra escarpment present on the site. the niagra escarpment is the exposed dolostone ridge at the edge of the niagra cuesta that stretches from new york state up thru canada and down into dodge county (and a smaller exposure in waukesha county) here in wisconsin via door county. in some places, it’s dramatic seaside cliffs, in others, it looks more or less like a pile of rocks.

no trail to speak of here, we followed deer paths up the glacial drift-laden section up to the top of the ridge and walked thru the ungrazed woods atop the ledge. with a steady wind blowing up onto the plain, we were able to enjoy a late-summer hike thru beech, maple, and ironwoods, with lots of mushrooms and moss growing all around the glades of tumbled dolostone. american beech grows here in its westernmost limit.

dolostone drifting,

acorns fall

in quiet rock glades

the gentlest arc

sits atop

magnesium bulk

american beech

on the ledge

of rolling green waves

sna poems, series supplementum #27: lizard mound park

September 26, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

a welcome autumnal retreat north of the city yesterday. in washington county, we stopped at lizard mound park, where over 20 linear, conical, and effigy mounds are very well preserved. especially impressive are the water panthers, of which there is a pair face-to-face, and the “lizard mound” which has much more pronounced legs and feet than most effigy mounds. these woodland mounds are much taller than many i’ve visited.

the forest seems pretty healthy, with little clutter in the undergrowth. lots of fungus growing and the last late-blooming wildflowers hanging on. washington county parks is doing a great job keeping the grounds.

this also seems like a good time to acknowledge that this land and pretty much all the land i’ve been walking for this project (including where i live and work) are lands that were taken by force and/or chicanery from the ho-chunk, menominee, potowatomi, sauk, and meskwaki peoples. i/we are still guests on this land, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. #honornativeland

oak and mossy frond

hug the mound

breeze in the maples

graceful tailed relief,

cooling air—

woodland memories

the lizard sleeps here

beneath sun

and solomon’s seal

if you made it this far: would you look at this acorn almost completely colonized by mycelium? i’d never seen this like that before.

sna poems #101: honey creek

September 10, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

honey creek sna is a widely varying area along honey creek, with different soil types, bottoms, boggy areas, forest, rock escarpments and uplands. the dnr site claims over 500 plant species living in the area. the site was originally protected by the wisconsin society for ornithology, and many bird species nest here. go birds (or, as chaucer would have called them, brids).

i took a leisurely stroll up the creek in the southern section, walking up what’s known as “borns hollow.” (i’m a sucker for any area called a “hollow.”) a lovely creek community with springs and seeps, forbs and grasses hanging all over the banks. oh, and cows and cranes coolly noting my approach and retreat.

my first spot of lobelia this year, and first id of spotted lady’s thumb (heart’s-ease), a kind of knotweed.

here islands sit calm

below roots

honey creek flows by

thick grass mats giving—

bovine eyes

as feet near streambed

c. (a psalm)

hollow flowers

clapping hands

to shouts of joy

Homage to the Milwaukee River in New Issue of riverbed review

August 18, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

i commute by bike to marquette university from my place in milwaukee’s east village pretty much daily. on my route, passing by the milwaukee river is always a highlight—a moment to see her beauty and reflect in heraclitean fashion on time and change etc., as cliche as it might seem. i also see how much damage we do to her, and how we’ve changed her features.

the tension between these two states is sometimes just too much, and one day i pulled over to look and smell and make a short poem about the ambivalence of the milwaukee’s flowing thru downtown. happily, the good folks at riverbed review published it in their new issue a couple days ago. you can read it here, and do check out the other good work in the issue too!

here’s a shot of the north branch further north where we haven’t bothered her as much…

sna poems,series supplementum #23: quivet marsh

August 9, 2021August 9, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

quivet marsh is a saltwater marsh located along sesuit creek as the creek flows to sesuit harbor and thence to cape cod bay. we’re here visiting family, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to get to know this land i’ve visited off and on my whole life in a more intimate way too.

pitch pines and oaks, phragmites and marsh muck, salt air and snags. found a nice stand of ghost pipes and a first id’s of pinkweed and summersweet.

my first time in a salt marsh and well worth the stop. a shout out to my sister in law for doing the early recon on sesuit creek and the marsh!

salt air

black muck

lattice work

ghost pipes underneath

the cedars

clouds above the marsh

state natural area poems #100: ward/schwartz decatur woods

August 3, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

a century of state natural area poems! i’ll admit: it felt good to hit this number. and i find it somewhat hard to believe—that’s a lot of visits in a year and a half, even for my determined self.

thanks to everyone who has hiked with me so far—family and friends—to all the creatures i’ve met on these jaunts, and to the all the private and public owners of these lands for tending them and making them available to the public.

oh, also, it recently came to my attention that a wisconsin high school newspaper article about the sna poems did come out a few months ago. it was fun to talk with a very local paper (in stoughton) about the vision and process of what i’m doing here, and i think emma did a fine job writing the piece up. you can check it out here.

the ward/schwartz decatur woods is another site along the sugar river, this a remnant southern dry-mesic wood with large red and white oaks. the understory has many spring ephemerals and is rich in other plants. the woods was one of the sites where baseline data for the burgeoning field of ecology was established in wisconsin by john curtis in the 40s and 50s.

a hard climb up the ridge after four other sites visited that morning, but satisfying to come out onto the edge of the wood at the crest and pause for a moment before a more leisurely walk back down.

first id-in-the-field of bittersweet nightshade—it volunteers in my backyard, but it’s different somehow seeing it out there. credit for a couple of these photos go to my dad who climbed the ridge with me.

logs crumble with footfall

upslope and downslope

movement over land

a hooved pair graze

on the sun-soaked ridge

crow overhead

if you made it this far: thanks for reading/looking. this project was not intended to go on this long, but i’ve learned enough about the natural history of wisconsin and enough folks have liked and responded to this project that it feels worth continuing. my gratitude goes out to you for stopping by.

sna poems #99: albany sand prairie and oak savanna

July 31, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

the albany sand prairie and oak savanna has an unplowed sand prairie, accompanying oak barrens and oak opening, a dry-mesic prairie, and an oak wood along the sugar river.

a very pleasant walk. first id’s of grass pink, hedge parsley, and american germander. also a species of primrose i haven’t seen before.

a monarch’s proboscis

curls into bergamot:

blossom and insect

life finite

and inexhaustible

in the oak savanna

the air is heavy with water

flowers and frogs thick

on the sand prairie ground

sna poems #98: muralt bluff prairie

July 26, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

i’m digging these prairies set on hills out west of me in wisconsin.

muralt bluff prairie lies along a curving ridge in the contact area between wisconsin’s glaciated and drifltess areas. there are fantastic displays of wildflowers from spring till fall, with several rare species represented.

it was a slick climb up (courtesy of the rain earlier in the morning), but the dense stands of wild bergamot and tall bell flower along the muddy wooded trail made up for the effort. the prairie itself and the view of woods and rolling farmland from the ridgetop were fabulous.

first id’s of grey-headed cone flower and prairie rosinweed!

coneflower and thimbleweed,

crane rattle—

bergamot kingdom

this rounded crown

between two lands

bees on the wing

if you made it this far: you are here.

sna poems #97: browntown oak forest

July 24, 2021 / jriyeff / Leave a comment

browntown oak forest is a southern dry and dry-mesic forest situated on a st. peter sandstone ridge in the driftless area. the variable topography and soil types nurture a diversity of plant communities. one part of the slope has sandstone outcrops.

the trails (such as we could find) were going feral, which restricted our movement into the forest somewhat, but a jaunt down the ridge to the sandstone was freeing.

first id’s of tall bellflower, st. john’s wort, and knapweed; also first coral fungus spotted since i started these.

me and this hickory

outcropping here

on sandstone slabs