ART FROM OUR INNER LANDSCAPES

My House is the Red Earth

My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world. I’ve heard New York, Paris, or Tokyo called the center of the world, but I say it is magnificently humble. You could drive by and miss it. Radio waves can obscure it. Words cannot construct it, for there are some sounds left to sacred wordless form. For instance, that fool crow, picking through trash near the corral, understands the center of the world as greasy strips of fat. Just ask him. He doesn’t have to say that the earth has turned scarlet through fierce belief, after centuries of heartbreak and laughter—he perches on the blue bowl of the sky, and laughs.

by Joy Harjo, the 23rd United States Poet Laureate and the first Native American to hold the honor. Watch Joy's talk at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in Elko, NV earlier this year.

THE COMPASS

The Compass is a geographic, archetypal community asset that supports the mutual thriving of humans, habitats, and economies. It envisions creating places for grounding in and with nature. These places — Compass Points — fashioned of flat rocks etched with core value words like compassion, hope, and peace, will provide opportunities for rest, reflection, and the renewal of our energies while nurturing appreciation of and attentiveness to the natural world.



ROCK THE WORD

What core value word would you etch in rock on The Compass? Learn more — and submit your word — by visiting The Compass conceptual website.

Full Moon Hike - Valley of Fire State Park . guided and self-guided hikes . Friday, May 5 .

Visit website to RSVP to Park staff.

World Labyrinth Day - Walk as One at One . Four locations . Saturday, May 6 . Click for details.