Wild is a Place that Changes Us.

 Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit marvelous Marcie Flinchum Atkins for Roundup.

I've been reading Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of The Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny. 

Here's a quote I love:

What does “wild” mean anyway? Not untouched by human presence, for even the plants—especially the plants—show how the canyonland's first inhabitants tended agave and prickly pear, coaxing them into new shapes. A wild place isn't one unchanged by humans. It's a place that changes us.

So, my question for you today—and because I've been thinking about it all week—what is a place that has changed you? Would you call it "wild?"

In the midst of these musings I wrote a small ArtSpeak: LIGHT poem, which is also about being changed somehow. The art at first glance doesn't seem to be of a "wild" place, but by Sevigny's definition, I think, YES, this IS a wild place! We are changed by light, by wonder, by simply sitting in communion with one another. Thanks so much for reading!

late afternoon

we are all glass windows

stained by light

- Irene Latham