Poems for Season by Sara Wright

In late November I first snowshoed our woodland trails to include the little balsam that I lit to honor all evergreens throughout the winter months. Every day when my little dog and I circled the tree I told her I loved her and called her ‘Lightbringer’. This daily encounter never lost its magic. The Goddess Lived during the darkest winter nights!!

The rest speak to the subtle changes that occurred from late winter into spring. My writing naturally follows both seasonal and intraseasonal shifts that might not be noticed unless a person is paying close attention.

(1) Lightbringer

Will she still
be there
 shining
after the storm?
 Moon Bear
is on the rise.
I peer through
white flakes
at dawn
 light
pierces
her powdery
 fringed shawl
 Love lights
the darkest
Night.

Steadfast Balsam
cloaked or not
 Ever-green,
Tree of Life.
Heartlines flow
crystalline
waters
pour down
deep sleep
oh,
 Daughter
of the Night
Daughter of
The Light,
Light -Bringer
Life -Bringer
The Miracle
Is that 
You Live.

 (2) Dreaming the Earth 

At Midnight
a pearly blanket
drifts earthward
 apple branches
 weep
at dawn
silver willow tufts
spring from
hooded buds
scented
golden
pollen
awakens
sleeping bees.
 Sun star rises
the hearts of
 trees
are beating
in slow syncopated
rhythm
blood
pulsing
from root
to twig.

Black bears
rip and claw
dead bark
in search
of tasty grubs.

Chickadees
 chirp
my beloved’s
canine ears
are tuned
to cardinal
whistling,
whirring dove
wings at dusk.

A barred owl
symphony
sweetens the night
 all celebrate
this moment
of becoming
betwixt and
between.

(3) Mountain Mother: (March 25)

We climbed
serpentine
hills to reach
her crest
sticky snow
impeding
seamless
 flow.

Mud season
oozes.

Cobalt sky,
dazzling sun star
blinds.

My canine
companion’s
nose twitches
anticipating
 wild scents.

Distant mountain
peaks –
pierce
 my heart
penetrate
my mind.

I am here
for a reason.

Images
flood my senses
purple
crocus
saffron yellow
 Persephone Rises.

Ah, we have come
to honor
Mountain Mother
on the day
She Rebirths
the Earth.

(4)  The Holy Ordinary

When I heard them
conversing at the
edge of the marsh
my heart leapt 
into my throat.

They’re back!

Black Winged Women
Gathering,
a streak of
crimson
slices through
 indigo sky.

We’ve come home
they cry
to anyone
who cares to listen.

We’re Breathing
 Weaving
Birthing
Dying
Prophesizing
Biding our time.

When I found
the dead dove
I stroked
soft mole
brown
feathers,
stretched out
an ink spotted wing
and wept.

Once whole
flocks gathered
outside
my window
mourning dove
 lay too still.

A week later
soft coos
papa was
calling
at dusk.  

Rejoicing,
 I heard
her reply.

I dreamed
then
that
one pair
would nest here
 in the valley
though it
had been years.

I awakened
this morning
to  whirring
wings
fluttering
to earth
breathing deep
into my longing
to join them.

I soared.

These doves
are calling
me home.

(5) Sky Woman

Every twig
is singing 
to Sky Woman
who gifts all
with
steady rain
wiping away
old snow
nourishing
earth’s  body.

No deluges
just sheets
of slippery
 silver
wells,
springs,
seeps,
flowing waters
sooth
heavy hearts.

Robins
sweeten 
the dawn
with song.

(6) Spirits of the Forest

In Forest Presence
I hear
 withered leaves
and gray green
 needles rustle.

Voices 
hum inside
crackling
hemlock bark.

Incantations
erupt beneath
the forest floor.

Wrapped
in a tapestry
 of threads
millions of miles
of white….

Cottony intentions
made manifest
as new beginnings.

Rapture
is Stillness
within.

Only then
do  trees,
birds,
 women
with wings,
reveal…
 secrets
 to those
who know
how to
listen.

 (7) Descent

Lying in
pebbly
wet gravel
with no
place
to sprout
I imagined
Seed
Becoming
Red Oak
cupping
acorn
in my hand
laid Nature’s
Promise
by my window
 on moist soil
when a
sturdy
white
root
appeared
I chose
Hope’s
Grave
as a birthing
place
digging
a shallow
hole
blanketing acorn
in black gold
ki*
descended
to join
mycelial
 conversation.

Patience
is required
for
Emergence.

Biologist/Bryologist/Author Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer uses the word ki (short for kin) to remind us that we are all part of nature, and to personalize individuals in the more than human world by replacing ‘IT’ with personhood. All ways of being alive matter. The words we use to describe the rest of nature on this planet hold power and currently the way we speak and write continues to separate us from the Other.

(8) Willowing

 I cut
speckled
bare
branches
wincing
walked
twigs home
to root
imagining
wild bees
 feasting
upon
catkins
four weeks
spent
soaking in
sun
 and behold
burgeoning
lime green
leaves
masses
of white filaments
burst
above
and below
I dug
willows in
by flowing
waters
ready to
let go.

(9) Sky Woman’s Gifts 

Sky Woman’s
Goose
swooped
down
on wet stone
 one year ago
Gander broke
Her
Fall
into
Dark Waters

The geese
came home!

 A
Great
Green Turtle
replaced
solid stone
rippling
round waters

Tree of Life
Re -emerged
Whole

Sky Woman
found home!

Two geese
Two doves
Two turkeys
fanning the field
with half – moon crowns
Earth birds all

 Beloved Coalie
my dog and I
close the circle
open heaped up
 hearts
to Life.

 Sky Woman
wears
a violet
crown
 celebrating
her return
as Queen
on the
First
Day of
 May.

Because Sky Woman shows up twice in these poems, I think it’s important to remind feminists of who she is. The Anishinaabe are a large group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States, including the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Algonquin, Nipissing, and Mississauga nations all of whom share some version of this Creation story:

 Sky Woman peers down at a hole that has opened in the sky world, while holding tight to a branch from the Tree of Life. The branch breaks and she begins to fall into a dark watery abyss below. Holding the seeds, Sky Woman falls and falls until geese fly under her to break her descent. Eventually they tire but the watery animals are busy below creating land for her on Turtle’s back. Muskrat gives his life to bring up the first bit of mud. When Sky Woman reaches solid ground, she dances for joy and scatters the seeds around as trees spring up and life begins on land.