Misnamed
as something unwanted
(as Fire has gone to ash,
got what it came for),
you are the one needed
for replenishing the earth
on patches of scorching,
nitrogen for the taking,
silence for the birthing
your seeds having blown in
for the raising of blooms
upward
over roots’ lateral spread
there to nourish the soils
for inviting communities
of life back for refuge
with your faces of lavender
violet, magenta,
your soothing of irritations,
quelling vibrations of disaster,
you are exactly what forests
in their needs will reach for.
Poem by Lynne Goldsmith.
Lynne has been published in The Environmental Magazine, Interalia Magazine, Journal for Critical Animal Studies, all-creatures.org, Red Planet Magazine, Spillway, Thimble Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. Her first book, Secondary Cicatrices, won the 2018 Halcyon Poetry Prize and was a 2019 Finalist in the American Book Fest Awards and a 2020 Human Relations Indie Book Award Gold Winner as well as a 2020 Finalist in the International Book Awards.