Restoration

a poem of place & perseverance

Restoration

In the valley between Banner Elk 
and Boone, we walk with friends 

and a hound with a wayfaring soul.
The tended path winds like a labyrinth

through an open meadow, under water 
last October. Hung in a mature oak, 

a sign marks how high the river rose.
Now, a year after hurricane Helene,

the field blazes in every shade of yellow,
flutters and hums with butterflies, 

honeybees and swooping swallows.
I am lagging behind, day-drunk

on flitting monarchs and an explosion
of pale-lavendar asters. My friend

is right here with me, her sky-blue eyes,
also wide with wonder. The goldenrod

is taller than us. We slow down to listen
for some wild thing—maybe a bird,

or is it a frog, singing from deep inside
this tangle of nectar, seed and shelter.

We leave with mended hearts, anointed 
by milky sap and fuzzed hitchhikers.

From inside the meadow, Valle Crucis, NC

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Thank you for reading a small spectacle. For more poems about place and the wild things that keep us company, my book Every Note, A Lantern is available from Kelsay Books and Amazon.

Coming Soon: New Poetry Collection

No One Ever Says explores themes of trauma and grief, while bringing to light the silent and often solitary struggles women face surrounding chronic pain and illness, infertility, and a loss of motherhood. These poems hold space for vulnerability, stillness and recovery, while drawing on a reverence for the natural world, its abundance and resilience.