Apaja’simk – To Return – Tiny Seed Literary Journal

Apaja'simk - To Return

Girl Setting Out at Dusk

7 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

Drawing her hands through her hair She wove a braid from shoulder to waist, Facing the rough bark As if it were a looking glass. She gathered memories enough. Handkerchief…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Blossoming

6 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

Fierce winds marked the awakening spring blowing into some future time that chill lodged for months in sparse branches. My dogwood held strong green berries bumpling from its charcoal arms…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Instructions for Early Days of Retirement

5 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

Come inside. Quit the crusade on squirrels. We have no use for those berries anyway. Let me brush aside stubborn snow stuck to the shoulder pads of your wool coat.…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Good Morning, Beautiful

4 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

Morning returns, slowly, wildly opening, as if the old window of an abandoned house. Morning always returns, even if you aren’t ready, even if you try not to show up.…

Apaja'simk - To Return

How to Grow Canna Lilies in Minnesota

3 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

On the weekend before the first hard frost, cry a little as you chop down the strong, gorgeous stalks. Play Palm Sunday with the cat with the waxy leaves to…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Cranes

2 Mar 20221 Mar 2022

or tsuru, in Japanese, are signs of longevity, good luck, and happiness. Today is my older brother’s birthday, in a few more months, I’ll turn 35 and outlive him. Finishing…

Apaja'simk - To Return

From Winter

1 Mar 202221 Feb 2022

March skies enshroud hold tight while loosening threads unweave winter leave strings broken into spring spring into broken strings leave winter unweave threads loosening while tight hold splits tombs April…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Role Fulfilled

28 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

Seed doesn't know it will return a plant once loved, now missing to special garden spot, and owner's heart, after transition by storm removal of original parental plant. Poem…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Autumnal

27 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

May a wisp of my Presence catch your eye in the Woods, my soft grey bones Seemingly intact, Solidly translucent as Mystery should be, As autumnal as …

Apaja'simk - To Return

To Die Before My Death

26 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

Long before the snow began melting on this mountain, there were deer paths etched through the thin forest and the fragrance of a distant fireplace filled the valley. Be still…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Two Wildflowers

25 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

I am a woman made up of two wildflowers. One wildflower with petals of soft champagne pink, like the flush of first love. A wildflower blind to fault, rare and…

Apaja'simk - To Return

A Walk in the Woods

24 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

First, you notice the smells, moist pine needles, bits of bark and twigs, a kind of bitter smell that fills your nostrils and swells your heart. The air is heavy…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Self, Rewilded

23 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

Searching, I pause under a tree, immediately an irate crow starts scolding me: what business have you here? In a nearby oak, magpies are chortling, amused by this spectacle of…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Fall Equinox

22 Feb 202221 Feb 2022

Time is relevant—to me. I worry about how many years I have left to hug my daughter, how many years to wait for grand- children. I worry about everything: pulling…

Apaja'simk - To Return

The Fish and the Ring

Under the brackish water I moved like grass. If you had seen it — the sea robins the cusk eels, the squid, the amberjack the red and gold made brown…

Apaja'simk - To Return

To Plant a Garden

20 Feb 202218 Feb 2022

Yesterday, I compartmentalized hope. 72 squares, seeded and soaked, I laid a clear cover on top of each cell, Like the veils I place over my heart— Sometimes. But this…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Burn

19 Feb 202219 Feb 2022

Photography by Anne Leigh Parrish Award-winning writer Anne Leigh Parrish’s next novel, an open door, will be published in October 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Recent titles from Unsolicited Press…

Apaja'simk - To Return

This Is Where God Is

18 Feb 202218 Feb 2022

Poem and Photograph by Carol Wolf Carol Wolf is a graphic designer and fine artist living in northern New Jersey. She received her BFA from the School of…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Fallen Grasses

17 Feb 20223 Feb 2022

When fall winds dry and tear green grasses, drying blades appear as mortals. Though summers vivify green masses, fall winds tear and dry the grasses very thin and verdant grass…

Apaja'simk - To Return

Play Time

16 Feb 20223 Feb 2022

Following tracks into the brush is a losing game. They disappear under yellow to brown leaves, broken branches and into damp earth during the dying season. All things wear down,…

Apaja'simk - To Return

The Old Snag

15 Feb 20223 Feb 2022

It’s just an old snag. Worthless old wood, not even useful for firewood. Worm-eaten, brittle and in chards. But look closer beneath the crevices and crannies. The dried-out heartwood still…