Tara Bray

For years now, I have written about birds I observe on my walks out in nature or in my own backyard.  What started as some sort of bird awakening back when I lived in Arkansas, soon became a mild sort of obsession.  In time, that turned to something that steadied me, and kept me grounded and alert.   At some point during the last decade, with so much time spent outdoors, my attention started to broaden.  I started to notice more and more the plants on my walks. 

I knew so little, and my field guides alone were not much help.  So I took a few edible plant identification classes and became interested in plant medicine.  I met women who have had an affinity for plants since childhood and knew how to utilize them for healing, and a survivalist who trained with a tracker when he was a boy.  His observation skills amazed me, the way he could see patterns and shapes.  He knew so much about the woodland plants and trees, and could see and sense things that I will never be able to.  He teaches classes to pass on this knowledge, which seems to me the best way to pass it on, from one person to another out there in the field. The good news is that when it comes to the natural world, there is a never-ending supply of things to learn, and the curiosity to discover can lead to nourishment and pleasure.  In these poems I have tried to capture my own relationship with plants after years of not thinking about them much at all.