Author Archives
I am a writer and naturalist who lives in a little log cabin by a brook with my two dogs and a ring necked dove named Lily B. I write a naturalist column for a local paper and also publish essays, poems and prose in a number of other publications.
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Of Women and Wildflowers by Sara Wright
Women and plants have been in relationship since the dawn of humankind. Women were the Seed keepers. Women created agriculture. Women learned what herbs to use for healing. Women noticed wildflowers, loved them, grew them and painted them, created poems… Read More ›
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The Pear Tree by Sara Wright
She was more than a sapling, so robust. One summer she bowedher tear shaped body,offeringa hundred sweet pearsto any creaturethat sought her gifts.Did the deer remember? Fruit that fermented becamefertilizer for hungry plants. When theygirded her slender trunkthat winter I felt betrayedby the herd of graceful… Read More ›
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From the Ground Up by Sara Wright
As a 76 year old feminist who lives alone (except for animals) I have been struck by some recent experiences I have had with kind men, men that I would call “Mothers’ sons”. Overall, throughout my life I have had… Read More ›
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Lessons From the Mother Tree by Sara Wright
Last night I was reading Forest Scientist Susanne Simard’s new book “Finding the Mother Tree”. She was writing about how uncanny it was that her personal life has paralleled that of trees, the forests, the plants, the fungi, the mycorrhiza… Read More ›
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‘Mother’ West Wind and Mary’s Gold by Sara Wright
One day last week it almost drizzled. When I stepped outside that morning I was engulfed by fragrant mist. Rarely does light fog give the thirst- driven forest a temporary reprieve, greening needles, and encouraging tiny leaves to unfurl. With… Read More ›
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Bears and Radical Ecology by Sara Wright
As an eco feminist I am deeply concerned with the loss of the animals I love. One of these is the Black bear whose visits are becoming more and more scarce as the forest around me disappears. The bear in… Read More ›
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“Finding The Mother Tree” by Sara Wright
Susan Simard received her PhD in Forest Science and is a research scientist who works primarily in the field. Part of her dissertation was published in the prestigious journal Nature. Currently she is a professor in the department of Forest… Read More ›
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Wood Frog Mother by Sara Wright
Dead CedarWeek after weekheat, wind, sun,shrinks vernal pools. Ditches are dry.Denizensof wet forest,masked gold leaves,seek shallow depressions fed by Spring. One night theheat wave breaksI smell rain,hear hoarse croaks.I stand thereswallowing soundinhaling fragrant airLamenting absence –so many voices stolenby drought.
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Broken Mothers by Sara Wright
I awakened under cloudsfeeling respite from fierceheat in April that forced maple, birch, beech, and poplar to bud and burst. First we planted Balsam seedlings; He climbed birch to saw off dying trunks, some broken beyond recognition, wreckage from the… Read More ›
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Vigil by Sara Wright
Preface: I am submitting this story for publication because it occurred during the Christian Holy Week and because it involves me, a woman who follows her dreams… That I did so in this instance was important in ways that I… Read More ›
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Red on Blue by Sara Wright
I dreamed her name not long before light – Pages fell out of a story written in blood. Every spring the words repeat as mist rises over the river. Harsh white light burns violet blue. She changes everything she touches… Read More ›
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Lily B and Messages From the Beyond by Sara Wright
The night before last I had a dream that has stayed with me. My dreams rise out of my body to teach and to comfort me so I pay close attention. I had recently written tributes for two men, Lynn… Read More ›
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High Desert Sojourn by Sara Wright
I longed to re-visit the desert – my first journey left me with a longing for wide open spaces, a blue sky dome, a bowl of stars at night, so to return 25 years later was to complete an unfinished… Read More ›
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Wings by Sara Wright
Early in January I discovered a chickadee with a broken wing floundering in the snow. I rescued him, providing him with a safe haven in the house, hoping he might recover use of his wing. For the first couple of… Read More ›
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Toadwise: A Tale for a Life Lover – Part II by Sara Wright
Read Part I here… In the Americas I found more recent Indigenous mythology on the Toad as Goddess. Tlaltecuhtli is a Pre–Columbian (1200–1519) goddess belonging to the Mexica. Although Tlaltecuhtli’s name is masculine modern scholars interpret this toad figure as… Read More ›
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Toadwise: A Tale for a Life Lover – Part I by Sara Wright
Last night I was thinking about the giant western toad that is living in my garden when I had a peculiar thought: Write a story about the Toad and an Old Woman and call it A Tale for a Life… Read More ›
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Uncovering What’s Hidden by Sara Wright
Shame is the shadow of being unloved, unwanted, rejected, strung out on need. Shame paralyzes; slamming into reverse actions that would create new intentions including hope of love. Shame blots out Personhood, snapping the thread of interdependency. Plant Consciousness restores… Read More ›
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Running with Hares, a Personal Reflection by Sara Wright
An overturned bowl of starflakes, lays down a new pearl white blanket. Earthbound I shovel – Silvery showers obscure – and some paths are slippery in the dark. Grooming a circle round and round I attend to listening. When… Read More ›
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The Abuser was Someone I Loved by Sara Wright
Dedication: I dedicate this writing to all animals, women, children who have been violated, brutalized or murdered by men. I will never forget the look in her eyes when he kicked her the ugly brown shoe smashing the domed brown… Read More ›
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First Light: Brigid and the Bear by Sara Wright
Winter light pauses so briefly. Now Chickadees are chirping and wild doves are pairing up. Birds are starting to sing love songs to the earth as she turns towards the light. By early February light is streaming into the house… Read More ›
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The Navajo Mountain: A Feminist Perspective Chant by Sarah Wright
Like the Navajo Night Chant celebrated at winter solstice the Navajo Mountain Chant is the last important winter ceremony, one that marks the shift in seasons and the return of the light. The Mountain Chant was once nine days in… Read More ›
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Crane Song: Finding my way Home through Image, Myth, and Nature – Part 2 by Sara Wright
Read Part 1 here… Recently, I returned from the Southwest where I was introduced to the ceremonies of the Pueblo peoples, ceremonies that reflected my own spiritual practice reinforcing its authenticity. This interlude also allowed me to be part… Read More ›
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Crane Song: Finding my Way Home through Image, Myth, and Nature – Part 1 by Sara Wright
The last gift I received from my very distant parents was a print of a Native American Medicine Wheel by Ojibway artist Joe Geshick. I received this present on my birthday in 1993. When I opened the cardboard tube I… Read More ›
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Guadalupe Rises Again by Sara Wright
I was in a Mexican store helping someone to choose tiles for the sink and bathroom of a new casita. I have always been drawn to Mexican art because the images tell stories, and many of those stories revolve around… Read More ›
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Navajo Night Chant – Part 2 by Sara Wright
Read Part 1 here: The original Night Chant involved four teams who danced twelve times each with half-hour intervals in between-a total of ten hours. The dance movements involve two lines facing each other. Each of the six male dancers… Read More ›
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Navajo Night Chant – Part 1 by Sara Wright
With the Winter Moon waxing on nights when stars are falling from the sky and the winter solstice passage, I am much aware of the healing and dwelling place that I inhabit that also characterizes these dark months of the… Read More ›
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Mary’s Return by Sara Wright
Yesterday I learned (NPR) that a third of the oak trees in this country will be dead within 50 years; I also read that our sugary harbingers of spring, the Maples, are dying confirming my own observations. I try to… Read More ›
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Paying Homage to Hestia by Sara Wright
This morning I was kneeling in front of my new wood stove kindling a fire from hot coals when I felt the presence of the Greek Goddess Hestia, Lady of the Hearth moving through the house. The goddess manifests as… Read More ›
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Stories the Stones Tell by Sara Wright
The potshard in the center seems to have a “face”… although I bring some of these artifacts home for closer inspection it is part of my spiritual practice to return them to the land. Avanyu, spirit of the waters The… Read More ›
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The Body is a Nation by Sara Wright
“The body is a nation I have not known. The pure joy of air: the moment between leaping from a cliff into the wall of blue below.”* Oh, the pure joy of being weightless – I leapt to the stars,… Read More ›
