Anne Burgevin Reflections
2022–2023
The Creek Journals, also known as the Long-term Ecological Reflections Project (LTERP), began in 2006 as Shaver’s Creek celebrated 25 years as Penn State’s nature center. At that time, Penn State’s Archaeological Field School was conducting a dig on the former Daniel Massey property near Shaver’s Creek, where they unearthed artifacts from the late 1800s — about 150 years before this project began. The archaeologists had to speculate about what happened at these locations and what the artifacts meant. Through the Creek Journals, we intend to record a piece of the next century’s history in some fashion so that future generations can better learn the story of this place.
The project is, according to conceiver Ian Marshall, a “study in place.” It seeks to record what happens at eight locations in and around Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center over the course of a full century — through the lens of authors and artists from a variety of disciplines. Below, we are happy to introduce writer Anne Burgevin’s reflections from her visitations to each site.
Site 1: Twin Bridges
white-throated
white-crowned
sparrowing spring
upon the return
of catbirds
100 names for rain
mayapples
mapping
the forest floor
singing
where the tumbling creek
fans out
I am younger
than these hemlocks
vanishing ice
Site 2: Rudy Sawmill
today’s dusk robin
tomorrow’s dawn robin
summer solstice
warblers mew
in the canopy
a shock of trilliums
sun-warmed pines
the youth
of everything I love
a thread of peepersong the first gust starts somewhere
Site 3: Chestnut Plantation
something
in the rain
in the orchard
splitting kindling
in moonlight
is all
three hawks
share a sky-field
crystalline sunlight
Site 4: Dark Cliffy Spot
another spring equinox
sharing the woods
with woodpeckers
forked path
a chickadee
leads me on
clouds
above me
all that time
whorled oak leaves
the budding naturalist
hears world
Site 5: Bluebird Meadow
hearing the bluebird only blue sky
charging through
the underbrush
a pip of a wren
quiet footsteps…
dwarf woodland irises
bluing the earth
the darkest part of the forest scarred foundation stones
bird walk
the magnification
of maple buds
releasing autumn black walnuts blackening
Site 6: Lake Perez
cool morning
the only cloud
a kiting osprey
between first light
and alabaster clouds
marsh aster dew
walking the woods
together, twin pines
growing apart
vastillnessestial
first day of the year
crows make room
for more crows
autumn equinox
bottoms-up
mallards
a swath of blue
through the pass
laurel on the mountain
Site 7: The Aviary
sky meditation
a cricket
jumps
into
life size shadow a vulture’s wingtip to wingtip
the other side
of the milkweed patch
my friend’s smile
(honoring Doug)
summer camp
a pocket of cool air
under the redbud
Site 8: The Lake Trail
our conversation
returns to this
bare tree
my sunny child…
a hike’s worth
of Qs & As
soft stepping
a woodcock and I
lock eyes
migrating geese
our mother
calls us home
fallen petals
the dripline
of a dogwood
rusty oaks daylight crowns the forest
stepping through
winter’s end…
roadside coltsfoot
Anne Elise Burgevin is a teacher, poet, naturalist and environmentalist. Throughout her life she has fostered awareness and a sense of wonder in her children and students about the natural world. While growing up in the Finger Lakes of central New York and then raising her children in the Seven Mountains region of central Pennsylvania, she has come to know and love the northeastern deciduous forests, and the lakes and rivers that shape and define these regions. Her haiku are an expression of her passion and concern for every living being, for whom she has deep regard, including weeds. Standing near a clump of seven foot Joe-Pye weed in her yard one summer’s day, Anne’s neighbor told her, “Your yard looks wild and untended,” which Anne took as a compliment. Wild and untended are key words in Anne’s world.
In addition to writing and teaching, Anne is an avid student and teacher of Shorin-Ryu karate, an authentic Okinawan style handed down over generations. She holds a black belt and teaches several classes in State College, PA as part of the familykarateclub.com.
For more information, visit Anne’s website.
