Intention & Connection from Coast to Valley
A poem and reflection on landscapes, shared wisdom, and all that calls us into the future
Intention
By Colter Murphy
Trees rise tall in Washington
like they might reach the stars
on full moon above the clear lake.
Chutes fall from snowfields
and huckleberry bushes grow tall,
like they could touch the draping lichen
if the sun could reach below tall trees.
The mountains jut up and fragment,
leaves nothing to the volcanic imagination.
See the disorder without judgement
so as to welcome the landscape.
In Montana the trees grow tall
like they stretched their imagination
and found the dry summer below.
See the slow growth without judgement
so as to forgive yourself.
Across the scablands of ancient glacial rush
there is some lingering dust, some languish
that spreads beyond mountains and coasts.
Drink the water, leave the dusty windows down
like the land is in your bones, like the sunset
rushes to your head when you rise tall.
In late August, the Confluence Leadership Team engaged in a process of reflection, noticing the movement of the Confluence community over its two years and thinking about the future. This process was aided by the wisdom of outside leaders who were there to listen and offer their insights. In particular, a woman named Dianne from Washington spoke of her experience with similar spirited communities in her area. I was struck by the similarities between coastal communities and ours, similarities also reflected in landscapes and ecosystems.
Walupt Lake, Goat Rocks Wilderness, Washington. Photo by Colter Murphy
Just before our visit with Dianne, I spent some time camping on a lake in the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington. The images of that lake, and the experience of driving east and witnessing the landscape change as we passed through mountains and flatlands moved me to write the short poem above. We are connected, as earth beings, across space and time: expressions of life in relationship with ourself.
Written by Colter Murphy, 2023.