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sticks in Hockley1
Poetry: M. J. BARRETT
University of Saskatchewan
Photography: CHERIE WESTMORELAND
I used to wander
picking up
fireplace sticks,
just
to be among trees
and
remember
where fire
comes from
This poem was written as part of my process of acknowledging a (re)emerging ecological self that struggles to find space for expression in academia. It was written as part of my hypertextual doctoral dissertation (see www.porosity.ca) which became an attempt to access and legitimate ways of knowing that emerge from conversation with Earth. The poetry is one access point to “dark and dusky knowledge, inspired by the natural world, a language that is semiotic, deep below the surface of words, below the surface of our skins.” Sometimes this self is more easily expressed in non-linear “tawny grammar” (Dunlop 2002). Photography is another place for expression. The image here is by Cherie Westmoreland, a landscape photographer who became a key collaborator in the dissertation project.
Note:
1. Hockley Valley is a stunningly beautiful area populated with maple-beech forests where I used to make my home for seven years.
Reference:
Dunlop, Rishma. 2002. “In Search of a Tawny Grammar: Poetics, Landscape, and Embodied Ways of Knowing”. Canadian Journal of Environmental  Education. Vol. 7: 23-46.
Acknowledgements:
M.J. Barrett gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as well as the Faculties of Education and Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, Canada.
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