Vox Populi
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Kai Coggin: Essence
I thinned the seeds already sprouting
in the bamboo garden
the radish beet carrot and bean
pulled each birth
out of the earth
and laid it on my tongue
crushed it with my teeth
and did you know these tiny sprouts
these little leaves and baby greens
already hold the heavy flavors of their final selves?
if only we tasted our own essence from birth
knew the transformations to come
were all part of the becoming—
that we had the imprint all along.
Kai Coggin is a teaching artist with the Arkansas Arts Council and the author of four poetry collections.She lives with her wife in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.
Copyright 2021 Kai Coggin. From Mining for Stardust by Kai Coggin. FlowerSong Press, 2021.
Reprinted from The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal, edited by James Crews (Storey Publishing, 2023). Included in Vox Populi by permission of Kai Coggin.
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Such a marvelous anthology! I’m grateful to be in it among such stellar poets 💖
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Your poem Lake At Night is a beautiful meditation, Lisa. Thanks for sharing it in the anthology.
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A delightful moment so delightfully described and opening to such deep universality!
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I agree, Laure-Anne.
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Love this—clothed in soft quietude and rhyme. “Heavy flavors of final selves…”
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Yes, the poem is deceptively simple in it’s language while its theme is large and complex.
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