Raised by Honeysuckle

Oct 12

2 min read

By Jodi Jones

PROMPT — The way I see it ...

The way I see it, I was raised by honeysuckle, common honeysuckle, one of the 158 species named Lonicera after Renaissance botanist, Adam Lonicera.

Honeysuckle was waiting for me the day I was born, suckling at my mother's breast. For over 60 birthdays the delicate flowers have never missed a sounding of their trumpet blooms on the summer wisps of air. Early experiences likely attune the brain to certain stimuli; my first botanical synapses were formed on the honeysuckle breeze.

The vines have held me together like they held up the old split rail fence in the corner of the meadow where they mingled with Queen Anne’s delicate lace and the white petals of daisies with their convex, sun-golden centers.

The vines made secret hollows where the intertwining web was woven among the wild hedges. Right there, along the country roadside that I wandered down every brightly brimming June day as the honeysuckle opened with sweet nectar. Nothing has ever matched those pockets of sweet heat that brought the magic of seeing while being unseen.

The vines continue to teach me to extend myself, reach and go wild in a glorious riot of my own soft-throated singing of ephemeral poetry.

Through honeysuckle teachings, I have come to appreciate there are times when dormancy is necessary. In those times, there is much happening. The vines sigh, “Quietness is regeneration.”

The vines age, going from green to woody. Always another bloom to come. Cycles. Turnings. Returnings.

- after Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass

Jodi Jones is writing from the Sierra Nevada mountains near Lake Tahoe. She finds healing and reverence in reading and writing poetry and immersion in the outdoors. She has found that exploring the mountains on foot is poetry. She facilitates in-person and online writing groups in the Wild Writing tradition. This is spontaneous, expressive writing and poetry brings us to the pages where we tell our stories. Jodi values community building and keeping oral storytelling alive.