This poem honors our longtime friend, the naturalist and chef Lara Greenspan, (1949-2014), whose life was intertwined for decades with the CSG. Her niece, Cory Kantin, penned this beautiful poetry and read it at the memorial on Saturday
Poem to Aunt Lara
The forest always reminds me of you
As does the desert, lizards, mushrooms, purple, creeks, coyote
turquoise, cats, reusable bags, chili peppers, tarot cards and feathers
But it’s in the forest that I see you.
Its believed that those who don’t have children
don’t have descendants.
That words have only the moment that they hang in the air
But I tell you, us kids, we store them like bulbs
Just waiting for our spring
There is no one here who will forget
My aunt, a protector of nature
A serious hippy whose mushrooms
Were serious mushrooms. only for cooking,
yet her dreams as vivid
as they were uncompromising
Where the animals live
In the wild. They have spirits
As we all do, hers stretched out like a shadow at dusk
That wouldn’t leave its ground
Sending a message
That leaves no trace
She didn’t let out a peep
In a world that asks and asks: what’s in it for me?
She tried so hard to explain, to cook, to play, to listen, to show them
the woods, the ways, the better ways
She forgot how to ask for herself
Auntie, I hope you know. I heard you.
We all heard you. We will never forget. We know
How heavy it is to carry un-bloomed beauty
All those bulbs
It will be spring soon
I will see you in the woods
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