Genesis Story
It is time for renewal
It is time for cleaning, for a laying on of hands,
be washed by the snow as it melts, listen
only to the birdsong,
know no humans, know the Earth,
know no humans, know only the Earth,
the smell of the Earth, the heat of the Earth,
the smell of rot, the smell of a laying on of hands,
of flowers, of the flowers, the smell of a flower,
a flower who does not know your name,
a flower and you are a flower,
and the snow turns to rain, and the rain
turns to renewal and remains,
and remains in your eyes, and you continue to clean,
you must always continue,
and the rotting flowers you brush away to reveal bones,
the outline of a rabbit that remains and remains,
and it has been polished by melting snow, washed, and
from within it something moves and you lay your hands upon it
Among the buds is a baby, breathing
in the smell of the Earth, knowing only the Earth,
listening
What the Bones Are Made Of
I wish to become like the Earth
Not interrupt and uninterrupted
Gentle and untamed
Able to disappear
I wish to disappear to humans and appear to the Earth
To become smell of wet moss, wet wood
for bones, frog friends, green flowers tangled,
tangles of vine and branch cleaned by green rain
that makes rivers of water unproven,
nothing to disease,
at home in lonely cries of the forest,
of jungle, of grass, home home home
Genesis Song
The rain the rain the rain
Grasses grasses grasses
Oh, shadow oh, shadow oh, shadow
The smell of the Earth
The smell of the Earth
The smell of the Earth
The Earth, The Earth, The
Earth
Oh Earth,
listen
– Kathryn Ward
I am an English major at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. My work has previously appeared in the Blue Marble Review, Up North Literary Journal, and Cathexis Northwest Press.