April 19, 2011
To the Editor:
I grew up in the house at the corner of Duncan and Stillman Avenues. Seeing the pictures of the "new" canopy dismayed me more than I can say.
I wrote this poem in response:
Labyrinth
To build a labyrinth and get more light
into the canopy, the women at The Grail
decided to cut down two hundred trees
from the woods where we ran free
as kids, finding our own natural
labyrinth from pine to maple to elm
above the ravine where dogwood
loosed their soft light every Spring.
Cutting's good for the forest, the women
insist. After all, if fire had blazed through
felling trees, they would reseed, grow
anew. Still. Something sacred is being
sacrificed so that people can walk
a labyrinth in spiritual practice. Why
is the given never enough? Those trees --
didn't they sing enough in wind to calm
the spirit, didn't they let the birds go
like hands opening out of prayer?
Lynne Knight
Berkeley, California
Comments:
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As the coordinator of the Labyrinth Project, I would like to correct the misconception about any correlation between cutting down the trees and building the labyrinth. There is no correlation whatsoever. The 200 trees were not cut down to accommodate the construction of the labyrinth.
Barbara Smith Gioia
Cornwall on Hudson
posted by Barbara Smith Gioia on 04/21/11 at 4:59 PM
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