An Exploration of the Concept and Application
of Social and Physical Distancing

Since many of our social contacts are non humans,
David and I figured distancing wouldn’t apply to most of our friends.

So we relished the opportunity to occupy the great spaces that surround us.

We realize that we are fortunate to live with access to lots of space,
filled with so many non-human beings.

I have grouped the beings we have spent time with
at distances of 6 meters and with greater measure of respect.

I invite you to share that closeness and spaciousness here

"Clearing the mind and sliding in
to that created space, 
a web of waters, streaming over rocks"

Gary Snyder  from the poem  Endless Streams and Mountains

Lakes and Rivers we spent time with

A simple but true song:

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry 

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high

John Denver  from the song  Sunshine

Earth Verse

Wide enough to keep you looking
Open enough to keep you moving
Dry enough to keep you honest
Prickly enough to make you tough
Green enough to go on living

Old enough to give you dreams

Gary Snyder

Her blue-grey-green

stretching out there

sagebrush flats reach to the edge

bend away

emptiness far the the mind can see

Gary Snyder

When I close my eyes,

exchanging seeing out for seeing in,

I see not only that which is possible

but also that which possibly IS

Michael Roads  from  Journey into Oneness

clouds we got to know

green mountains turn to clouds

and slip  slow by

Gary Snyder  from the poem  Afloat

rocks and shapes we met

into earth  rock dives.

  As the mountains lift and open

underground out,

dust over seashell, layers of ooze,

display how it plays.

Buttresses fractured, looming,

friction only, soon to fall, each face

a heap of risks

talus slopes below

flakes weathered off the buried block

tricked off an old pluton,

and settle somewhere, ever lower down —

gives a glimpse

of streaks and strains, warp and slide,

abraded gritty mudwash glide

where cliffs lean

to the raven-necklace sky —

Gary Snyder

streams and mountains never stay the same

Gary Snyder  from  Finding the Space in the Heart

I never made promises lightly and there
have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left we'll walk in
fields of gold


from song by Sting  Fields of Gold

winged friends we watched at a distance

Twelve ravens squawk, squork, crork

over the dark tall spruce

and down to the beach. 

Two eagles squabbling, twitter, meeting,

bumping flying overhead


Gary Snyder

four-legged families we enjoyed

A broad bench, slate surfacing

six sheep break out of the gorge

skyline brisk trot scamper

Pellet piles in moss

a spiral horn in the grass

Gary Snyder

A ewe and lamb in the sunshine, the lamb

tries to nurse, it's too old,

she lies down

Gary Snyder

sheep impermanence, sheep practice

sheep shapeshifting — vows of beings

Gary Snyder

people (mostly each other) seen at varying distances

Tara's Vow

Those who wish to attain supreme enlightenment
in a man's body are many...
therefore may I,
until this world is emptied out,
serve the needs of beings
with my body of a woman

Gary Snyder

there is no place we are

but maybe here

sky and water stitched together

Gary Snyder  from the poem  Afloat

the wideness, the

foolish loving spaces

full of heart.

Gary Snyder  from the poem  Finding the Space in the Heart

Tim and Kim and Don and I were talking about

what an awful authoritarian garb Doctors

and Nurses wear, really, how spooky it is.

"What should they wear?"

"masks and feathers!"

Gary Snyder  from the poem  The Blue Sky