Holding Back Time - Haibun By Paul Vincent Cannon

Taking a short break

Photo: Mollerin Rock reserve 2022. Taking a short break, heading out beyond the internet and into the bush. Shall miss all you lovely people and your creative work. Back on the 26 😀 Until then, keep writing!

View On WordPress

Stray Bands - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

At dVerse Melissa is hosting poetics with an invitation to write an ekphrastic poem using one of four paintings by Emil Nolde. The double challenge is to do so knowing the artist originally declaimed his connection to the NAZIs but was eventually outed as having been involved in the NAZI party. Note: There are a number of famous people who fit into this type of moral dilemma – Martin Heidegger…

View On WordPress

The Progress Playbook

Baltimore's new floating wetland is bringing back wildlife and clean water

The Harbor Wetland mimics the inner harbour's original tidal marsh habitat, which was destroyed long ago when the harbour was dredged out.

The Harbor Wetland, at 930-square-metres (10,000-square-feet), mimics the inner harbour’s original tidal marsh habitat, which was destroyed long ago when the harbour was dredged out. It’s covered in native shrubs and grasses, which help to filter the waterway.

The $14 million project is already native species like blue crabs, American eels, Eastern oysters and night herons, among other creatures. Equipped with an elevated walkway, it doubles as a free floating park for residents and visitors.

The wetland is situated between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is part of the National Aquarium. The installation is made up of recycled plastic matting and 32,000 shrubs and marsh grasses, whose roots extend into the water below, providing “microhabitats” for dozens of native species and drawing nutrients and contaminants from the water, according to the aquarium. Circulation is enhanced by an aeration system.

“Harbor Wetland is the culmination of 12 years of research, innovation and determination,” the aquarium’s president and CEO, John Racanelli, said in a statement.

The Willow Is Not Alone - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Note: Mondo – origin Japan – a two stanza question and answer nature poem. Syllable pattern is = 577, 577. Photo: taken in the State Forest at Kirup – a Jarrah seedling arising end of winter 2024. “Give some tree the gift of green again. Let one bird sing.” Faiz Ahmed Faiz The Willow Is Not AloneWhy do the trees weepwhen we pas by laughing loudcarving hearts in ritual?Not for the woundingnor…

View On WordPress

EL PAÍS English

The dirt on biocrusts: Why scientists are working to save Earth’s living skin

Think twice before stepping on that crunchy top layer of soil. It may be a vital ecosystem — one that you can help protect.

Also called biocrust, cryptobiotic soil is a community of tiny, dirt-dwelling organisms that form a distinct crust on the top of soil in arid landscapes. These crusts are vital across Earth’s dryland ecosystems, helping to hold loose soil together and prevent erosion. They retain water, provide nooks for other microbes to live in and add nitrogen to the soil.

Cryptobiotic soil often looks like a discolored patch of ground. Upon closer inspection, the stain becomes a mosaic of small, dark lumps, dotted with tiny beds of moss and inconspicuous patches of lichen. But it can also look very similar to regular, crusty soil. Although the crunchy earth might be tempting to trek over, like stomping through a pile of crisp autumn leaves, that’s a major faux pas: Biocrust can take decades to regenerate.

Biocrusts cover around 12 percent of Earth’s land surfaces and inhabit every continent in the world. A major component of these crusts is often photosynthesizing bacteria called cyanobacteria. The cyanobacteria form sticky filaments that act like glue in sandy desert soil, creating a clumpy, crusty surface where fungi and other bacteria take hold.

Depending on what environment a biocrust is in, it can also house itty-bitty mosses, lichens and microscopic algae. For example, in desert areas with more moisture, like Moab, Utah, biocrusts tend to feature mosses. In gypsum-rich soils, such as near Lake Mead, Nevada, lichens take center stage. Some crusts feature all components, and in other crusts, multiple components are missing. But regardless of their community lineup, the crusts all serve as a living skin for desert land.

“They provide this suit of armor to the soil,” says Ferran Garcia-Pichel, a microbiologist at Arizona State University in Tempe. When he first started working with biocrusts around two decades ago, very little was known about them. In the 2023 Annual Review of Microbiology, Garcia-Pichel outlines what researchers have learned about cryptobiotic soil over the last couple decades and what remains unknown.

Ambient - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Somonka – Japanese origin: Two tankas (each trad. syllabic – 57577), usually written by two poets one responding to the other, written as two love letters. This was a solo effort. Image by StockSnap from Pixabay “Something else is alive” Ted Hughes AmbientOrion off-centrenever shines in moon's shadowin those darker months,as we too are subtly hiddeneclipsed by stars distraction.Even shadow…

View On WordPress

I Resolve Not To Resolve - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Image: found on Bing “One vow a year will see me through, and I’ll begin with number two” Rudyard Kipling. I Resolve Not To ResolveIf I were to somehow, suddenly, be enthusedenough to sing the magnificat it would not bea celebration of the annunciationit would be my prompt to shout a renunciation of all who trade off virtues,not that I'm virtuous, of courseI've never even made a resolution,I…

View On WordPress

Talgomine Rock - a prose poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Photo: taken in spring (September) 2018 at Talgomine Rock Reserve: Everlastings carpet the bush. “The first lily of June opens its red mouth.” Marge Piercy Talgomine RockRains recede to spring orchids in songs of pastel blues and yellows. Wrens fan, flitter, chatter across the sun-bleached granite and are just as suddenly gone. There’s something comforting about the musky soil that fills me, to…

View On WordPress

(via Anyway - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon)

Time Traveler - a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Image by Susann Mielke from Pixabay “How many others are in this place? I don’t know.” Nazim Hikmet Time Traveler Can I ever be that sure whenlife is as tenuous as mothsin heavy rainfall,what is permanencebecause time travelseems to be an everyday event,only yesterday I was deep in conversationand a word,doesn't matter which word,had barely landed in my earwhen I was transported to themoment of…

View On WordPress