Now, being an ethnobotanist
Is not all that different
From being a musician,
Ballerina or chef:
You’ve got to practice
Your licks and chops,
Your forms and foot positions
Your dicing, slicing
And making a roux
Every day (or else)
You get rusty.
No one I know
Likes a rusty ethnobotanist
One who is constantly hoping
To discover some herbal WD-40
So make and take
Some time each day
To go on out
And eat the flowers
Drink their nectars
Chew their roots
Offer them a fresh set
Of ancient names
And listen to what
All the elders have to say
Or pray about them.
To be an ethnobotanist means
That you will let yourself be
Immersed in a world
Of potent verdant cures
That you will love and care for
As if your life depended on them.
It does.
– Gary Paul Nabhan aka Brother Coyote OEF
