In Memoriam | Thom Hawkins

Thom Hawkins (Photo – Clara Arbuto)

Thom Hawkins, a climate activist, gardener, poet, and spokesman for the Earth, died on February 15, 2023. Thom was 86.

By Tera Landers

Thom viewed the world through his intense gaze, all the natural beauty and all the suffering caused by human hands. Thom saw a planet in peril, and that moved him into action. As southern California became drier and more parched for water, Thom adopted a small patch of soil by the driveway at Throop Unitarian Universalist Church. Possibility lay within the soil. Through Thom’s careful tending and attention, a once-barren, weedy corner turned into a “Drought Vegetable Garden.” Thom amended the soil for better water retention, and he used watering techniques that enabled vegetables to be grown with very little water. On Sunday mornings, Thom arrived early, tenderly tying cucamelon vines to their supports and monitoring the growth of his tree collards that towered over him. At the end of the summer season, Thom’s smile would be almost as big as the gigantic winter squash he held, grown with love and care.

Thom’s love for Earth also found form through his poetry. His poetry explored Earth’s beauty and the calamity of the climate crisis, often holding that tension in the same poem. The reflection of the sun, wolves howling at night, the twisted limbs of ancient avocado trees, his love for his family and for his dear companion Clara all came to life through Thom’s poems. Many of his poems are available on his Instagram feed, @elderpoetthom.

Thom’s poem “The Rightness of Everything” includes the stanza:

All dance to the same song,
the song we have forgotten,
the song of oneness,
the rightness of everything.

Thom helped those around him to listen for the music of nature, to dance to it, sing to it, and to move us toward action. One of Thom’s friends remarked upon hearing of his death, “Earth will miss him.” And so will we all.