The Greening

Playing with words, handmade books and viridity

A fluid greenery at ground level in the wet wood

Greetings from the moss. Faithful companion that I am, I have been circling before settling down to this week’s letter - though here it is four feline paws that knead the soft edge of the bed before coming to rest. Perhaps I’ve been padding too, and I’ve set aside two drafts to come back to.

Wordplay

Last night, reviewing images, I thought to share some April favourites but as the curtains closed an opalescent glow from damson blossom in the half-light of dusk caught my eye. The impression lingered and prompted me to write notes for the day drawing on the colours noticed.

And so I came to choose one, nudged by the greening observed, and wrote these words:

April is punctuated by precipitation: 
rain, drizzle, sleet, snow, hail

The month is slow to green
but                                   up
builds from the ground

first a carpet:
mosses under trees

trees
mosses
under

sphagnum swells with water
seemingly always 
f
a
l
l
I
n
g

wood sorrel and anemone
draw shapes simple and complex
ferns wait

first willow 
2. elder
3. rowan
4. horse chestnut 
smooth out their pleated wares:
spring slowly unfolds

full stops of green on birch become 
commas

installations of needles waymark the path, rush and grass 
piercing water and wet earth 
slash and backslash

Spring here bides her time
and requires 
patience
period? No, there is unfinished business here
:
em dash 
ellipses
...

Moss: a handmade book of the small

I’m searching for ways to integrate my writing with the visual and have been test driving papers and bindings. There’s a growing desire to play with the form of it, as above, giving the words space to breathe, expanding on their meaning, letting them spill down the page. In the last week I found a first accommodation between the two that I am comfortable with and can share with you in a short video.

I wanted to say thank you for your conversations on Open Your Soul. I’ve loved responding to your comments and am delighted that both the voice over and video were well received. Thank you; I hope our conversations can continue.

You’ll find more image rich writing in previous posts on FLOW’s home page.

My photography and mixed media art live here on my website.

And finally…

Viridity

I enjoy adding a little postscript as a thank you to those of you who read to the end. Usually it’s one image, but this week I decided to put a gallery of greening here: moss, lichen, and algae. Viridity is a word that popped unexpectedly into my head and turns out to be a good fit: the quality or state of being green; greenness; verdancy. I have no recollection of ever encountering it but the mind sometimes works in strange ways.

Green builds from the ground

Until next week, thank you for joining me here.

All words and images copyright © Michela Griffith except where otherwise noted