Nature Leads the Way

“Asters and Goldenrod" by Robin Wall Kimmerer and “Shelter” by Ada Limón are nonfiction writings that take a look into their pasts. Jumping between different times each moment is guided by the nature that surrounded them both literally and metaphorically. Both titles are highly descriptive pieces meant to stir the reader's minds with the pictures they paint. With the most detailed parts coming forth when they pertain to the flora surrounding the authors. However, the author’s styles of writing take the reader on very different journeys.

Both pieces focus on a plant in each of the authors’ lives. The plants themselves are different but more importantly what they signify is different and how they are used by the authors. Where Kimmerer’s flowers are her what, why, and how. Limón’s trees are her what and where. Kimmerer’s flowers encourage her to ask questions and find answers. Limón’s trees are her stability and her home, telling her when it’s time to stay and when it’s time to go.

In Kimmerer’s piece, she focuses on two types of specific flowers that followed her throughout her life. Opening with her introduction to botany school she states her purpose for pursuing this career, ” …I wanted to learn about why asters and goldenrod looked so beautiful together” (Kimmerer 39). This thought sets up the rest of her story in two ways. First she spends the whole piece answering this question. Consistently mentioning the colors of the flowers in great detail, how they stand out and compliment one another. The way she describes the colors together is the answer she was looking for the whole time and already knew from the beginning. The second way is that her story is riddled with questions. She opens with a question and she continues to ask more questions throughout. This structure allows the reader to see her thought process and requires them to think along with her in order to answer these questions for themselves. Kimmerer’s goal in using this type of writing isn’t to set the physical scene that her memories were created in but to show the reader what the inside of her mind looks like where those memories are stored. How her mind changed as time passed.

For the first part, every memory is brought back to the flowers, often by just mentioning their colors existing in space and not the flowers themselves. Kimmerer only actually mentions one specific time she saw these flowers. She imagines this moment. Believing they were the first thing she ever set her eyes upon as a baby. This adds to the idea that this story does not take place in a physical setting but in her state of mind at that time . Stating that this experience would alter her life. She describes the moment as love at first sight.  “I was born to these flowers and they came back for my birthday every year, weaving me into our mutual celebration.” (Kimmerer 40). These flowers are her why. Why she moves through life the way she does, why she asks the questions she does, and why she wrote this piece. 

She progresses through the story, always bringing it back to the flowers. “As if harvest time were not enough—peaches, grapes, sweet corn, squash—the fields are also embroidered with drifts of golden yellow and pools of deepest purple, a masterpiece.” (Kimmerer 40). Even before describing what the flowers look like the reader is able to guess the colors as she mentions yellow and purple throughout the story. The flowers weren’t physically there but her mind projected them onto everything in her presence. When her mind began to focus more on science and less on beauty she learned the scientific names for asters and goldenrods. She learned about color theory and why purple and yellow stand out against each other, existing as each other's perfect compliment. Kimmerer is guided by the asters and goldenrods, often leading her farther away from them only for her to see their resemblance in everything that passes by. 

As for the second part. These questions she asks throughout her life are how she takes her next steps. A question leads to an answer, leads to a question, leads to an answer. A maze in her mind. Each question and answer is a turn in the labyrinth. Ironically, it is someone else that asks the first question in her story. “So, why do you want to major in botany?” asked by the registrar during Kimmerer’s school interview. This question leads the way for the rest of the story. The main theme of things simply being “Why?”. The reader following along may come up with their own questions and answers along the way. Engaging them more with the reading and inspiring them to go and learn and create on their own. Kimmerer’s inclusion of constant questions in her past not only describes her mind’s journey but encourages the reader to find their own path as she did before.

Limón’s is just as descriptive as Kimmerer in her excerpt, yet she takes the reader down a completely different path. Each of her memories wrap around a different tree. Unlike Kimmerer, Limón’s trees are not just a metaphor that shows itself in the colors of the world but they are physically in her life at all times. The trees serve as a center point that her life revolves around. Holding a place in the past like a bookmark opening to a page that holds the content, the happenings of the past. Building the actual setting that her life took place in. The tree, her home, her family are all accounted for.  She describes the air  around her; how it felt and smelled. Her story reads like a diary. Allowing the reader to sit alongside her in her memories looking out on the trees.

Limón’s story is broken into sections. Each like a chapter in her life. Each chapter is named after the tree that lived in Limón’s life at that time alongside everything else. Each chapter begins and ends with some note about the tree and everything said in between those moments are the memories that Limón experienced. She uses the trees as a connection. Not only between gaps in her life but also as a way to connect to the people that have walked through her life.

In both titles outside of the authors’ internal monologues there is very little dialogue. What dialogue is included is very one sided. With the side characters in the stories making a statement that leads the author to their next step. Kimmerer’s characters act as a sort of antagonist in her story, while Limón’s stand beside her showing her a new way to view her surroundings.

It’s through interaction with others that causes the most extreme shifts in Kimmerer’s way of thinking. “I must tell you that that is not science… And if you want to study beauty, you should go to art school” (Kimmerer 40). Each time she is spoken to it is in retort to her own thoughts. In response she must shift her mindset to move forward.

For Limón, her dialogue is often written in a way that makes it seem like the speaker was not even speaking to her at all but to the area around them. It adds to the scene and the mood. “He’d say that having a public park was just as nice as having a backyard” (Limón). This quote was stated by Limón’s stepfather in reference to the area they stood in at the time. Written in a way that makes it sound as though it wasn’t said specifically to Limón but to anyone passing by within earshot. This is still something that stuck with Limón and altered her perspective. The only direct quote Limón actually includes is the one she ends her piece with, stated by Georgia O’keefe, “I wish people were all trees, I think I could enjoy them then”. This also wasn’t directly spoken to her but just something she happened upon that resonated with her.

Both authors’ style of writing works well to express their ideas. One as a way to challenge the world by asking questions that grew from the flowers around her. The other uses trees as an anchor in her life, connecting her to the past that brought her to the future.

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Citations

 

Kimmer, Robin Wall. “Asters and Goldenrod.” Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2014.

 

Limón, Ada. “Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees.” Scribd Originals, 2022.