The following are the reflections and poetry of Dr. Celeste Snowber, who recently led a walking performance called “The Fruitful Dark of Winter” through the Garden.
Dr. Snowber will perform again on Earth Day to celebrate nature and biodiversity at the Garden. You can now register for this event here.
In the light rain and moist air we had a wonderful turnout to walk through the fertility and magic of the Garden on a winter day. The Garden called us to slow down and partake of its offerings and experience the fruitful dark.
Quiescence
Be/loved winter
what is your work in our lives?
riotous roots woven underground
reveal secrets in your hidden structure
a season of not blooming
Here is the fruitful dark
you teach us the necessity
of fallow time
much more is blooming
than we comprehend
Buoyant Roots
Why do others get poems written for them
and dances choreographed?
Have you noticed the graph of me?
taken the time to stop – be halted
in my presence – noticed
I am among strangers
given I’m found in subtropical southeastern China,
Vietnam and Laos, yet have found home here
in the Asian garden at UBC
I am on the IUCN Red list as critically endangered
along with 70,000 other species
We ache for our beginnings
and ask you of the human world
to pay attention to biodiversity
do not do only what you can
but what you might have thought not possible
Take poets and activist hearts and minds
both involve risk
Speak up in all the ways you can, will & want
keep asking WHY
Let me tell you something about myself –
My name has many meanings – Chinese swamp cyprus
glypostrobus pensilis or waterpine
My qualities are made up of resistant organic matter
I stand at the edge of waters, swamps & flood lines
grow in knee deep water, prevent erosion
at edge of rice patties
Take a lesson from me
one who has highly buoyant roots –
There is a key to not rotting
enduring the flood of climate change
Be tall in the midst of chaos
Your roots, and my roots
are both made of stardust
leaning towards sky
they will call and remind you
what is your true name.
What Does the Garden Teach Us
What does the garden teach us
about cultivating the heart – the body
the shape of our souls
the ripening of our senses
nourish what grows
honour the bending,
falling, turning
trust your own path
here is the fertilizer
for fecundity – the moisture of winter
a garden of interiority
lies waiting for you
