Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 6,000,000 visitors since 2014 and over 9,000 archived posts.
Video: A poet-botanist’s lifelong pursuit of discovery
Running time: 13 minutes
Libby Houston is an accomplished poet and botanist, having published a number of collections of poetry and discovered several species of whitebeam trees. This includes a rare tree with distinctive silvered leaves that now bears her name – Houston’s whitebeam. And, as this short documentary shows, she’s also a climber, a skill that, at 80, she still uses to explore the steep limestone walls of the Avon Gorge in Bristol, England, allowing her access to otherwise unreachable cliff faces.
In this contemplative portrait, Houston reflects on the death of her first husband, as well as the interplay between her poetic and scientific work, including her quest to document every whitebeam in the Avon Gorge, showing that even landscapes studied for centuries can still yield surprises.
Produced by Aeon Video.
Directors: Alex Darby and Jake Morris
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I am almost her age, my degree in zoology, my love of plants, words, poetry. I envy her ability to climb and focus. I am more sedentary, except for walking Tashi, but I peer through my window at the finches, orioles, doves, warblers, listen to the song sparrows and crows, watch mama squirrel collect peanuts against a backdrop of the orange tree and the pines. I once studied sea hares, ungainly blobs when caught by low tide, furling out gracefully with the incoming tide, releasing a cloud of ink when threatened. I love how VP sets my mind wandering every morning. A hawk must have come by, suddenly the bird feeders are abandoned.
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What a fascinating woman “hanging from ropes” on cliffs, counting plants by hand! And that short video’d moments of that “sterile hybrid” she discovered and loved…as she listened to the “music of words”…My kinga gal!
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She reminds me so much of my wife Eva. Energetic, passionate, brilliant and interested in everything!
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Absolutely delightful!
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Isn’t it? I’m fond of this short film.
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Thank you so much for posting this, a really remarkable and unique woman, she has a serenity that I am still feeling.
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I’m fond of poets who are also scientists. They bring solid knowledge to their writing.
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