I was rapt reading this! Such engaging writing and I resonate so much with what you're saying. Ambling through the Norfolk countryside with my writing group I've been awed and shamed by their knowledge of the flora and fauna.
But my fascinating discovery has been an app called Picture This. Take a photo of a plant and it won't just tell you it's name but ALL it's names - historical and regional, it's properties and uses, any appearance in poetry or prose and any myths and symbolism tied to it.
This found text has sparked so much in my imagination and taught me at least some of the names of things around me. Like with people, your relationship with these things are deepened when you know their names and a little of their history. I particularly like to know the names given them by ordinary people living alongside them - the posh Latin name doesn't interest me!
I look forward to seeing some of your nature writing! I recommend sitting still and looking at the tiny details as well as the broad sweep of the landscape xxx
I was rapt reading this! Such engaging writing and I resonate so much with what you're saying. Ambling through the Norfolk countryside with my writing group I've been awed and shamed by their knowledge of the flora and fauna.
But my fascinating discovery has been an app called Picture This. Take a photo of a plant and it won't just tell you it's name but ALL it's names - historical and regional, it's properties and uses, any appearance in poetry or prose and any myths and symbolism tied to it.
This found text has sparked so much in my imagination and taught me at least some of the names of things around me. Like with people, your relationship with these things are deepened when you know their names and a little of their history. I particularly like to know the names given them by ordinary people living alongside them - the posh Latin name doesn't interest me!
Here's one that came with the help of the app:
Naming the Flowers
Toadflax clutches the stone,
Mother of millions: feet firmly
Rooted between the flint.
Pennywort turning her many faces to the sun,
Wandering Sailor, seeking the sea?
Such an innocent bloom:
Tiny tendrils cling, soft petals
Shine against stone.
I wonder why my ancestors
Saw this tiny flower
Trembling on the seawall,
And felt the need to endow
It with so many names.
I puzzle over why
Some ancient fishwife,
Or aran-clad homeward bound sailor,
Saw this creeping beauty
On the cottage garden wall
And thought: I’ll call that Devil’s Rib.
What a wonderful app, I’m getting that one for sure! Love the poem it inspired too, so beautiful.
I look forward to seeing some of your nature writing! I recommend sitting still and looking at the tiny details as well as the broad sweep of the landscape xxx