The Nature Inside Me

Author: Ryuto

Advanced Academic English I, Sophia University

Permission granted for publication in August 2025

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I have been an observer in the relationship with nature. I have distinguished myself from nature. It does not mean that I was unfamiliar with nature, but I simply did not know that there was a connection between us. When I was a kid, I used to help my grandfather with his gardening. We pulled up weeds, planted flowers, and watered them. I used to believe we were the only ones who used our own garden, but the truth was our garden had a role as a community for wild inhabitants. I was reminded of my precious experience by reading the poem, "Knot," written by Pattiann Rogers. “Knot” illustrates the separation of humans from the world of nature in the first stanza, and the author’s finding that they are a part of nature in the second stanza. This essay aims to explore the alteration of my perception of the relationship between me and nature through my fundamental experience in my garden, and analyze the poem, “Knot”. 

The poem was included in Rogers’s 1989 volume entitled “Splitting and Binding.” As the volume title states, the poem, “Knot” shifts in two stages of perception of nature, Splitting and Binding. In the first stanza, Rogers describes the narrator’s status as an observer and how they discern the diverse nature living. “I can unwind sunlight from the switches of the water in the slough and divide the grey sumac’s hazy hedge from the hazy grey of the sky, the red vein of the hibiscus from its red blossom” (Rogers). These lines expose the idea that the narrator is an observer, and he or she is skilled at distinguishing the details in nature. This reminds me of my childhood memory when I found insects in our garden. When I was helping my grandfather plant the new flowers, I dug up the soil and found tiny worms wriggling there. I was so disgusted. I threw the soil over them and informed my grandfather of this unwholesome creature. He told me, calmly, that they were recycling the nutrients and helping our plants to grow. I was an observer, and I thought these worms were invaders in our lovely garden. I differentiated them from the world of humans. However, it was not long until I realized that I was indeed part of the Ecosystem and nature, which even the worms belong to.

There was a Sarcandra Glabra planted in our garden, and it was one of my favorite plants. They bear the tiny fruits from their branches, and I liked to look at the vivid red and yellow colors they bloom. One morning, my grandfather called and told me to look out the window. There were silvereyes and bulbuls on the branches, eating the fruits we grew. I was tremendously happy that wildlife came to my house to eat our tiny fruits. Furthermore, it made me feel a deep connection between nature and myself. “I am marsh-shackled, forest-twined, even as the new stars, showing now through the night-spaces of the sweet gum and beech, squeeze into the dark bone of my breast, take their perfectly secured stiches up and down, pull all of their thousand threads tight and fasten, fasten” (Rogers). In this second stanza, on the contrary of the first stanza, Rogers passionately depict the narrator’s realization that humans are deeply connected to nature. The line "Squeeze into the dark bone of my breast" express the author’s strong fondness for the fact that she is one part of the whole universe, and the excitement that the vast circle of life exist inside her own body too. These lines perfectly resonate with the feelings when I saw the little birds visiting our garden and eating the fruit I grew. I was enormously moved by the fact that they became a part of their flesh. This was the moment when I realized that even the nutrients produced by these creepy worms help plants grow, and the plant becomes the flesh of humans. It felt like the beauty of nature suddenly emerged inside of me, and this extraordinary blissfulness from the deep connection between my body and nature filled my mind.

 “Knot” by Pattiann Rogers reminded me of my fundamental experience when I first comprehended the profound bond between us and nature. The connection with nature has become less appreciable in today's busy, urbanized world. The power of words Rogers conveys enabled us to remember still the indispensable nature cycle to which we unconsciously belong.

Work Cited:

Rogers, Pattiann. “Knot.” Atticus Review, 19 Aug. 2014, https://atticusreview.org/knot/ Accessed 21 July 2025.