This old experiment of green, Eric Colburn (December 2025)

This old experiment of green

The forest-opened senses, on return, 
are over-filled by all of our machines. 
Not just the glowing spell of screens, 
but car hum, airplane roar, and churn 
of laundry in its drum. We burn 
a million candles as we clean 
our scarcely soiled PJs and jeans. 
The noise and light too much, we learn 
again to close ourselves, to shut and lock 
our doors, and fingertips, and ears, and focus 
all of our attention—on our screens, 
of course—our screens and nothing but our screens. 
(Well, maybe earbuds too?) But if we block 
out nature, won't it just, in turn, block us?