Murray, age 50 and father Woodlief, age 79

Intergenerational Description of Joint Project:

     This project consists of a poem ("Fairy Rings") written by G. Murray, and a photograph taken by his father, Woodlief, which illustrates the poem. Although both were produced separately, they unite into a single work of art.

Celebration of Rachel Carson’s Sense of Wonder:

The poem describes how my mother introduced me, as a child, to some of the wonders of the natural world. Through his photography, my father also did his part to impart this sense of wonder.

Poem:

Fairy Rings

Young feet do not notice a small
blue mushroom in the middle of the trail,
trampled into the dirt as we rush off
to swim, to climb, to the other hurried pleasures
of ten years old.

My mother, trailing behind us,
mushroom book in hand,
stops.Scans from the broken fungus
to the woods around. Calls us

back. Points out another mushroom
beside the trail. and another. Another.
A ring of mushrooms in the woods.
"A fairy ring" she calls it. After the rain,

she explains, this mushroom, Lactarius Indigo,
sprouts in a perfect, pale blue circle.
In this way, she introduces us to
the wonders which lie underfoot, and just
off the trail. She cannot halt

our rush to play, to grow, to the future.
But, after this, at that bend in the trail,
we will slow down, if just for a momen

Photo: