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A poetic response to T.T. Williams’ “America’s National Parks”

By: Rocco Tedesco

As adolescents we have an intuition

to frolic in the grasses,

sing with the birds,

and make ripples in puddles.

We learn to be as integrated with the environment

as the birds, bees, fish and trees –

we root ourselves in the land and

find home, sanctuary, a place that feels

as if it will never change

but when a tree falls in the forest and no one’s

around to hear it, did it really make a noise?

Trees fall every day,

blowdowns flatten whole ecosystems,

is there still a fruitful future?

As young adults we’re taught

to be combed into a model

and that any hairs sticking out are to be cut,

tossed to floor, and swept up.

They say we can either help the nation,

make money or protect our money

and humanitarian efforts are just

loose hairs, something to be swept away.

This is when conformity becomes the blowdown

it grabs us by our trunks and unearths us

without a last cartwheel, chirp, or splash

we are yanked from our home

to serve an artificial one.

Why can’t we skip rocks between our natural homes anymore?

We dare not ask, for we might get cut and swept.

When did we lose sight of home?

This home was here before any of us

it created us and we evolved from it.

Should we not have more honor for it?

We honor those who fight to protect our money,

so why don’t we honor those who protect

the home we sprouted from?

This poem encapsulates the emotions that can be felt from the first chapter of William’s (2017) book Hour of the Land where she recounts her conversation with a veteran who spent much of his life volunteering in the parks system after leaving the military. They both agree that protecting these parks is worthwhile but empathizes with each other that it’s a job that can be hard to do in tandem with supporting oneself. I like to think that this poem gives their empathy and hardship a voice. It speaks the truth of reality and the dreamers and stands for a utopia where protecting the environment is as important as making the next dollar.

In a study on the effects of nature-based therapy (NBT) and nature-based activity (NBA) on war veterans with PTSD, researchers concluded that the study needs further research, but the results point in a positive direction (Poulsen, 2016). Many of the participants reported an ease of traumatic response symptoms and felt like they gained skills to help them better cope with their condition. I feel that this study perfectly boldens the irony of our nation’s dilemma. How can our natural sanctuaries be so neglected when our nations heroes need them to heal? If our nation wants to support our veterans, then maybe we should also support the spaces they need to heal themselves. Naturally, I ask myself how I can do my part to help the cause. I’m not much of an ecologist, but I know a thing or two about outdoor recreation and I’m a decent rock climber, so perhaps it could be in my future to take veterans out rock climbing as a means of nature-based activity.

References:

Poulsen, Dorthe Varning et al. “’Everything just seems much more right in nature’: How veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder experience nature-based activities in a forest therapy garden.” Health psychology open vol. 3,1 2055102916637090. 31 Mar. 2016, doi:10.1177/2055102916637090

Williams, Terry Tempest. The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks. First Picador edition. New York, Picador (A Sarah Crichton Book/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2017.