in another life
one i am not quite living
i can hear
and understand
all of the whispers of the world around me.
i heed the wisdom of the honeybee, the river.
do not hold on so tightly
said the sea, all feather and salt
a great bird.
begin again
spoke the sun with a voice like a bell
everywhere at once.
and still i waited for the moon.
i wait
and every day
she is quiet.
i walk with the great drum of the earth.
i listen to her song.
i whistle with the thistle
i rise with the rose
and still the moon says nothing.
i am flint and ash
i rise again and again
i am lost and found over and over.
i ask questions with every part of me.
finally,
think about what you love most
she says
more silver than every coin
in every palm
than every ring
on every finger.
ask the inside of your inside,
consult your marrow.
what do you beat against yourself?
for what do you make yourself a door?
she asks,
spoon and fiddle and pearl.
follow that ache.
i listened for the Everything in me.
Everything said: go home.
Corey Ruzicano is a producer/writer/educator from the San Francisco Bay Area. While pursuing her BFA at Emerson College she went through the Creative Producing program under P. Carl and David Dower, and continues to write for HowlRound. She has completed apprenticeships at the Lark, the Orchard Project and the 52nd Street Project. She has been the Creative Projects Manager of Jeanine Tesori’s studio, Siena Music and A BroaderWay, where she also teaches writing and leadership to young women. She has managed the intern program at Second Stage Theater and fellowships and awards for New Dramatists and aids in making space for writers of all kinds and created community engagement programs for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. In New York she has assisted on productions with Encore’s Off-Center, the New Group, Trusty Sidekick, Lincoln Center Education, NYMF, Dixon Place, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and Broadway’s the Hudson Theatre. She is the Executive Producer of Words on White, an art and conversation initiative. With all her work, she seeks to empower voices and stories that encourage more empathic communities and a better understanding of one another.