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A Tribute to Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry, a truly wise man, died at age 92 on August 26. Let’s let him speak for himself on the topic of death right off. The following 4 part poem is from his book The Country of Marriage:

Testament by Wendell Berry –

Dear relatives and friends, when my last breath
Grows large and free in air, don’t call it death —
A word to enrich the undertaker and inspire
His surly art of imitating life; conspire
Against him. Say that my body cannot now
Be improved upon; it has no fault to show
To the sly cosmetician. Say that my flesh
Has a perfect compliance with the grass
Truer than any it could have striven for.
You will recognize the earth in me, as before
I wished to know it in myself: my earth
That has been my care and faithful charge from birth,
And toward which all my sorrows were surely bound,
And all my hopes. Say that I have found
A good solution, and am on my way
To the roots. And say I have left my native clay
At last, to be a traveler; that too will be so.
Traveler to where? Say you don’t know.

Dear Readers and Writers,

My good olde Farmer’s Almanac tells me that the 2026 autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 5:05 PM, Pacific Daylight time. This astronomical event signifies the official first day of fall, marking the exact moment the sun crosses the celestial equator.

In autumn, our eyes get to eat ecstasy.  Endless colors of leaf-life infuse our pupils:  vital reds, brilliant oranges, tallowy yellow joy-leaf scenes seen whoosh down color-hungry ocular nerves and feed our brain-caves feasts of color.  Please partake of this food for your spirit. Let it nourish you, bring you through to brightness right here amidst the darkness of environmental degradation, and the fascistic deceit, greed and attempted domination we must navigate together.

Dear Readers and Writers,

Summer nears.  My 234th edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac informs me that the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on June 21, 2026, at 1:24 A.M. Pacific time. This event marks the longest day and shortest night of the year, signaling the astronomical beginning of the summer season.

Our bodies (and our dream bodies) are generally our most intimate experiences of Nature. We’ll attune and rest there then free write and share.

Dear Readers and Writers,

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere. The 234th annual edition of my Farmer’s Almanac says the first day of spring 2026 came on Friday, March 20, at 10:46 a.m. EDT. The vernal equinox (aka “the point of Aries”) is that dynamic turning point when light begins to exceed the darkness of winter.

We too turn, tending to spend more time out of doors in sun and under rain, being with trees and lawns and gardens. Creative juices flow faster through “the green fuse that drives the flower” and through You.  Your poetry can be part of that flow.

Dear Readers and Writers,

As I write this, the Fall Equinox approaches, and with it the very welcome cool winds and bright colors and clear starry nights of autumn. The Fall Equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22 at 11:19 AM Pacific time this year. Harvest time.

My wife Leslie and I met in 1970. We’ve lived together since 1973, sharing many gardens and attunements to the natural world. We think along the same green lines!

As I write this, the Fall Equinox approaches, and with it the very welcome cool winds and bright colors and clear starry nights of autumn. The Fall Equinox arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22 at 11:19 AM Pacific time this year. Harvest time.

In our Northern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice arrives on June 20 at 10:42 PM EST. It’s the longest day of the year and marks the sun’s most northerly point in Gaia’s sky.

As the light gets longer and brighter, I’d like to invite a dive into the dark, into night, sleep and dreams; dreams that can throw light into unexplored corners.

Do you ever write down your dreams, or tell them to a trusted other, or let them work within you during the day, or work with them, alone or with trusted others?

Think back to your first remembered dream, to recurrent dreams and themes, to nightmares, and revelatory Big Dreams. Don’t neglect memorable dream fragments. What places are featured in your dreams?

Feel free to free write about all that.