What nature means to me
Writers share the inspiration behind their displays dotted across the Gardens this summer
MERYL WESTLAKE
Leo Boix
I live in Deal, a small East Kent coastal town overlooking the English Channel, where I swim regularly.
Nature, in all its forms, has inspired my poetry in unexpected ways, from the marine environment where I live and work, to the woodland trees and migratory birds I'm surrounded by.
This special connection became even stronger since I moved to the UK from Argentina in 1997, as it reinforced in me notions of belonging, exile, and fleetingness.
Óscar Martín Centeno
For me,
nature connects with the human being, transmits its heartbeat, amplifies its
silences. In the poem it is more than just a stage. It is the invention of
love.
The
photograph is of a crasa, it is a typical plant in arid areas, quite
common in southern Spain.
I like it a
lot because it looks like a green rose that is born in unsuspected places. I
took the picture on a rainy day and the drops of water shine on the plant.
©Óscar Martín Centeno
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
When I was young, my mother told me there were kami, spirits,
everywhere. Sometimes, I sit still and try to listen out for them.
Jini Reddy
Nature is
the living earth – in nature I experience freedom, belonging, repose, an
unravelling, and often, joy.
This is an
image of the St. Lawrence River ( and the Lachine Rapids) taken from the
end of the street I grew up on in Montreal. Whenever I arrive back in Canada,
this is the first place I go, and it represents so much: sweet memory and
homecoming but also the beauty and power of nature. When I come to this spot, I
exhale, unravel, feel free and at peace.
St Lawrence
River©Jini Reddy
Yuyutsu RD Sharma
Nature in
the Himalayas is not just a physical thing but a spiritual entity, Devatatma, a
Sanskrit word meaning a place where soul of the god lives. It’s through the
celebration of these magnificent Himalayan glaciers, named after divine beings
like Annapurna, Lord Shiva’s consort, that I have been able to get in touch
with the sublime and seek higher truths in life.
The song of
these glaciers that melt and replenish the granary stores of the Subcontinent
bestow upon us a sacred mission to survive, keeping us physically fit, agile
like birds, connecting our breaths to the colossal soul of the gods.
Himalayan
peaks ©Andreas Stimm
Nina Mingya Powles
I took this
picture outside a temple in Yunnan, China, in 2016.
The
courtyard was coated in yellow leaves; the air was full of incense. Ginkgo
trees are very ancient – to me they represent memory, history, and
connectedness.
Gingko,
Yunnan, China ©Nina Mingya Powles
Toni Giselle Stuart
My walks in
Silvermine have become about connecting to my ancestors, the indigenous ones
who have walked this land for thousands of years, and those who immigrated here
centuries ago in various ways.
In the
mountains and at the ocean, I remember and feel, how I am part of something
much bigger. This makes me feel held and safe.
Source: https://www.kew.org/
