Snow Covered Fields–an Ekphrastic Poem by Bev Gorbet

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

*Snow covered farmer’s field at sunset, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

Ice clad prisms, snow covered fields of glittering fire…
Winter days, the wondrous glow: ultramarine lights and turning shades
The magic song: ice and gently underflow of meandering streams
Singing waters on the tortuous pathway below…
Clangor, bell sounds: the moving harmonies on icy slopes…

*Jackson Creek in winter, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Ice ‘islands’ touched by sunset light in Jackson Creek, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Ice block in Jackson Creek, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Farmer’s field in Kawarthas, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

A bronze feathered hawk sails high above
Into the bright sunlit skies,
Hawk, swiftly carried in its flight above bended fir and aspen forests,
A wild, fierce, freewheeling majesty…

*Icy bay and shed in the trees, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Small cabin in a meadow, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Trees by fence in farmer’s field, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Snow from a cedar tree showers down glitter-dust in a light breeze in Jackson Creek Park, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

The many pristine snow reflected lights, glittering fires
Above a snow clad world in a time of darkness:
Nature’s magic universe everywhere extant:
We are overwhelmed, confounded by the wonder of it all.

*Skier checks his path on a slope at sunset, BC (photo by Lindsay)*

*Snow glistening in the sunset on a very cold day, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Reflections in Thompson Creek outlet after a new snowfall, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Otonabee River glittering in the sun, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

Bev Gorbet is a Toronto poet. She has published several poems with the Retired Teachers Organization and most recently in “Literary Connection IV: Then and Now” (In Our Words Inc., 2019), edited by Cheryl Antao Xavier.

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press(Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.

“The Forested Sanctuary” by Bev Gorbet

April 8, 2021April 9, 2021 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

*Stream runs through cedar poplar forest in the rain, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

Oh! great mysterium:
Great forested sanctuary into the heart of being
Oh! to walk pensive, in solitude into the center
Of a cedar forest, worlds all russet and green,
Branch and bough, rain swept landscapes
The high treetops, far whisper and echo…
The great winds in high flight high above…
Songs to pierce the sullen skies,
Melodies of joy and of a deepest longing…

*Cedars and poplars in a morning mist, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

Songs of immortality, worlds full aflame,
Mystic cathedrals and dawn memory,
Haze and gray day, silver sky, silver cloud
Rain downfall and mist…
Leaf, branch and bough, the wind and the rain
The bending and wind tossed land

*Mist hangs over Trent Canal, Trent Forest Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

The spring scents, spring grasses and nearby stream;
Rivulet and rhapsodic song,
The holy silences, the rain, fall, hiss and far echo…
Cedar forest cathedrals, branches overspread,
Red winged blackbird, soaring alone high above,
High into the receiving dome of haze and sky
Free swoop and whispering forest airs

*White birch in Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

The far meditation:
Sacred journey into a holy wilderness:
Forested worlds beyond time…

*Cedar root among ferns and moss in a light mist, Trent Nature Sanctuary (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

Forested worlds of an existential beauty,
Great moss silences, tree root and bough…
Great worlds of hope and the tenebrous shadow
Of a rain swept day…
Holy encounters: the great mysterium
Sacred worlds beyond still time…
BEV GORBET

*Moss and lichen cover an old cedar log, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

*Tinder polypore fungus on white birch, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Moss on a log in Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

*Cedar boardwalk in a misty rain, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)*

Nature as Poet … Country Roads in Winter

March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

*Undulating hills of a farmer’s field in Kawartha countryside, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Country road in Kawarthas during snowfall early winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Farmer’s field by country road in early winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Country road viewed from Kawartha drumlin during snowfall, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Small farm in Kawartha countryside in winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Country road in winter on a sunny day, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Farmer’s field during snow fog of winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Country road during snowfall, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Farm and field during heavy snowfall, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Country road in Kawarthas in winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Farmer’s field aglow at sunset in winter, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

Nature as Poet … The Forest in Winter

February 14, 2021March 14, 2021 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

*Woman and her dog walk the cedar swamp forest, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu*

*Trail through cedar forest in first snow, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Moss covered roots and trunk of yellow birch after snowfall, Jackson Creek Park, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Young marcescent beech tree among moss covered glacial erratics in Jackson Creek Park, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Snow-covered marcescent beech leaves in Jackson Creek Park, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Heavy snowfall at bridge in Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

*Cedar pine forest after first snow, Jackson Creek Park, ON (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)*

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press(Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.

Nina Munteanu Writing Coach

nature art

Snow Covered Fields–an Ekphrastic Poem by Bev Gorbet

“The Forested Sanctuary” by Bev Gorbet

Nature as Poet … Country Roads in Winter

Nature as Poet … The Forest in Winter