Between Sweetwater and Sand: a Chap Book of Poems

My New Chap Book 
Above is a link to my website.  The book is available at Amazon.com and bn.com and many other places.  I will be on public radio to talk about my new book on Monday, Nov. 4 at 10:45.  Go to WGVU.Org and click on the morning show hosted by Shelly Irwin.

You can hear it on you computer.  It's only 12 minutes long.

Powell's Books has all of my books

Great Lakes Systems

Everything is Connected

Click the link above for a two hour program on Youtube about our ecosystems in the Great Lakes.

Grand Haven Pier: Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is powerful.  Be very careful especially around piers.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

Beech Trees: Life and Transformation in the Forested Dunes.

The trees in Duncan's Woods are beautiful.  I took this photo yesterday of a beech tree.  But I was sad to see so many fallen trees and large trees that had been cut down.  In the background of the beech you can see many young trees.  Nature has a way of renewing itself.

The wooded park in the center of Grand Haven is not the way it used to be.  I know that nothing stays the same.  I used to take Girl Scouts for nature walks in these woods so they might learn to appreciate them.  They took great delight in stomping on  mushrooms they called earth stars.  A puff of spores would escape into the air and then the leathery star shaped fungus would appear. I gave them lists of things to find such as acorns, pine needles etc.

 Some of these trees attract wildlife.  I have seen owls, pileated woodpeckers, warblers and other beautiful birds here and heard their haunting songs.

On the Shore

Red and gold sassafras

Slender green tasseled grass

And the lake waves say

 “too soon, too soon.”

White mares’ tails streak blue skies

sea gulls slide and slip in air

trembling shadows on the sand

whisper so I can hear

 “too soon, too soon

this day will end too soon.”

The Green Man Lives

The Green Man Lives

Hear the silent drumbeat

see the unknown sound

feel the pulse

of rivers underground;

of sap the runs through veins

of a billion leaves.

Unearthly music

in the turning of leaves

in the wind.

A scattering of milkweed

silk seed glide.

Breathe sweet warmth

honey sun on skin enters in.

Touch earth with soles of feet.

Lie down where marigolds grow.

Breath in leaf mold--

the green man lives.

excerpted from my book, Between Sweetwater and Sand

available from Amazon.com and bn.com and elsewhere.

amazon.com/Barbara-Spring/e/B002PI5IQQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1