A few days after arriving home from Newfoundland, I read this piece from Brain Pickings featuring David Whyte’s monologue on the essence of belonging and what it means to come home to ourselves.  In response I posted, “While I enjoyed meeting women on my recent trip, I really enjoyed befriending my creative self who wrote poems and a story, painted impressions, took photos, concocted recipes. A sweet encounter.”  In this and subsequent posts, I’ll share some of what “we” did together.

This first vignette came as we visited the Discovery Centre in Woody Point and learned about the significance of Gros Morne National Park, one of the first UNESCO World Heritage sites, as “it was here that geologists proved the theory of plate tectonics. The Tablelands, a mountain of flat-topped rock of a kind usually found only deep in the earth’s mantle, is a truly awe-inspiring sight.”  We also visited the lower level gallery to see fibre artists’ interpretations of the land, its history and people.  A easy amble down the boardwalk in the Tablelands to the perfect sit spot within the rocks to make my first water colour sketch.  The poem below, written on the painting’s border, emerged later that night.

I

The Tablelands, Gros Morne

June 20, 2015

The vastness of this Island’s spirit,

holding the Earth’s very own heart

exposed to all the elements.

A paradox of deep beauty, magnificence and awe,

with a cutting desperation for survival.

A people who, fierce and proud –

despite what we mainlanders think –

know what matters.

This mater.

This mother.

Earth.