Sydney Lea: A Monk After Dark
One boot sags like him in his cubicle’s corner.
He drops the other to the floor with a grimace.
Kim Ports Parsons: I Can’t Write a Poem with a Gun
a fox steps lightly into the yard,
and shakes off the dew from the meadow,
and cocks her head, nose quivering
Jennifer Brookland: Holding On When Leaving Feels Like Letting Go
I spent four years in the military and remember it in fuzzy flashes. The little I do recall leaves me with a vague sense of awkward incompetence, confusion, and shame.
Gail Langstroth: Composting on Earth Care Farm
In two handfuls of the finished compost there are more microorganisms
than people on earth, says Mike.
Frida Berrigan: This Is My Song
What I Can Still Love about My Embattled Country (and World)
Rachel Hadas: The Seeds
My former student sent me six or seven
little homemade packets—folded paper
labelled and taped. Inside each packet
she’d tucked a few heritage seeds:
squash, lettuce, kale, peas, more I am forgetting.
Christine Rhein: Our Corner Acre, April Afternoon
Side by side, we dig in the withered flowerbed,
the sudden warmth, and once again you say, See
how much the light has shifted. I nod my head
at another changing season, our aching knees.
Michael Simms: Compost
fine white strands
of mycelium reach
into the cells of the woody stalk
and hard husk of sunflower
Sharon Fagan McDermott: The Summer of Nectarines
Plague on the winds, in the air,
on our tongues in the midst of old conversations.
Linda Parsons: Visitations
Everything seems to glow richer before first frost, a last hurrah before the ghostly breath passes over.
Joan E. Bauer: The Sisterhood of Buddleias
Sarah plants a butterfly bush
for the purple, nectar-rich splendor in a pot.
Hannah wants some pink extravagance
to beckon hummingbirds.
Hayden Saunier: After Watching the Attorney General Testify, May 1, 2019
I’m back outside, hands deep in dirt and dirt’s
the only thing that’s telling truth today.
Carla Bell: Black Communities Are Reclaiming Space Outdoors, From Backyard Gardening to Mountain Climbing
The program is designed to teach children their role in nature, to respect and care for the land and its creatures; and to grow, preserve, and cook the food made available by the land.
Shanna B. Tiayon: Serotonin and the Garden of Good Eating
The garden was literally healing me. The low to mild depression I had been cycling in and out of started to break, and I felt lighter, happier, and more self-accepting.
Vox Populi 