You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World

by Ada Limon

bell hooks once wrote, “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in Braiding Sweetgrass, “All flourishing is mutual.”

you are here. And you are too. We are here, together in this moment, crucial and urgent, yes, but also full of wonder and awe at every turn.

Patricia Smith allows for a vibrating instruction in her poem: “Blossom when you’re ready, but rough.”

You have more rights than the undocumented: I need a permit to uproot you.

I wonder what’s past resistance to change, on the other side of fear. If I don’t look down, or walk away. Step over the snake instead, realize both living and dying require giving up.

Blossom when you’re ready, but rough.

Then be that quaint explosive. Growl out with howling, red vibrato, and own everything weather has done to you. Bellow, girl. Blossom.

sunlight that arrives first at your window, quietly pawing even when you can’t stand it, and you’ll heavy the whining floorboards of the house you filled with animals as hurt and lost as you,

the redbuds will lay down their pink crowns, and the rivers will set their stones and ribbons at your door if only you’ll let the world soften you with its touching.

We believe all flourishing is mutual, and we envision a future in which all can thrive. Realizing such a vision requires reflection on historical legacies and engagement with current realities. We humbly encourage readers to do the same.