By Anne Kilgannon
Robin Wall Kimmerer was drawn to study botany because she was filled with the question, “Why is the world so beautiful?” She has spent decades pursuing answers to this puzzle and sharing her discoveries with her students and the lucky readers who stumble upon her books. Many of us* have come to know and love her renowned explorations in Braiding Sweetgrass, but her first book Gathering Moss is less well known. I picked it up on a hunch in 2003 from the University of Oregon’s publication table at a history conference but it languished on my shelf until recently. Kimmerer believes that “plants come to us when they are needed. If we show them respect by using them and appreciating their gifts they will grow stronger.” I wasn’t ready then for her message but now being retired from the pursuits of that time and taking a new turn, opening my life up to nature studies and the transformations that has brought, I savored every story she tells on these pages. Like plants, books come to us when we are awake enough to let them change us.
At first, reading about moss and the study of moss was like confronting the blur of green carpet we see everywhere this rainy time of year for the first time and realizing that (of course) moss is not one thing but a thousand different species, each with special characteristics and habits. Kimmerer guides us down into the welter and says, “Look, look here at this tiny leaf, this tendril and curl.” She shows us how to grow eyes for microscopic differences, for the astounding variety of ways mosses have evolved to survive in very specific environments under conditions most plants would not be able to tolerate. Mosses have no root system or very complicated structures; they are totally open to the elements, soaking in life-giving rain and sunlight and waiting patiently when these elements are not available. But nothing is simple about how they do that; mosses are geniuses of strategies for survival, growth and reproduction. I was amazed to learn how subtle and extraordinary mosses are and how complex are their reciprocal relationships with their surroundings. They are an ancient species, probably one of the very first to colonize land, and have used the eons to spread over the earth and find niches of habitat everywhere where they can make a living and a contribution to the beauty we find in all living beings.
Kimmerer advises, “Learning to see mosses is more like listening than looking. A cursory glance will not do it…. Mosses are not elevator music; they are the intertwined threads of a Beethoven quartet…. Slowing down and coming close, we see patterns emerge and expand out of the tangled tapestry threads. The threads are simultaneously distinct from the whole, and part of the whole. “ Reading, I had to slow down too, and stop after each passage and ponder her meaning. Her work is a revelation. Her writing style is both exacting and clear as well as expressive of her sense of wonder and deep affection for the life she observes. We learn a lot about how to ask questions, how to turn and turn about, marveling and examining these incredible life forms and being patient while we search for understanding. Kimmerer reminds us to “think like a moss.” Why this form, why that strategy? Everything has a reason if we just keep trusting moss to know best how to survive and thrive. This is science from the inside out. That too is a revelation.
And for birders, we can adopt that way of thinking, of understanding and query. What would it mean to think like a bird, to place ourselves inside the very being of a bird and understand its ways and choices? It’s an exciting proposition! I will turn to this book again and again to remind me how to look deeply and with intention and love. Nature is all around us, even underfoot in the cracks in the sidewalk. That line of green is alive and flourishing, waiting to tell us its story. I’ll never look at moss in the same way again.
* A special thank you to Paul Moody for recommending Braiding Sweetgrass a long time ago, so very right! Other recommendations are welcome. You can comment or send suggestions to me at anneandgary@nullgmail.com Please see “Save the Date” in this Echo for a book group proposal based on these reviews.
