Poetry
These poems are often featured on my Rewilding Wonder Substack, including in spoken word form
I started writing more poetry in the in-between spaces of the pandemic. I found the silence and solitude in those times strangely nourishing, as my nervous system unwound and I could listen to and observe the small but meaningful beauties all around me… Along the way I also started recording some of them as spoken word videos. I hope you enjoy some of the vignettes I paint… ~ Ariana
Wanderer
Whispered on the wing
Felt in stones
Slow travelers
Beings born of place
Till dust is carried on the wind
Telescope black
Rent open the gaping sky
to peer into deeper black
Velvet, telescope black
The black that absorbs your heart
Stunned into a moment’s rest
Threadbare
I’m ready to fall to earth
And let her reveal
my true form
I will accept it
as I reach for the sun
Labor pains
All I can do really
is trust the mother
until the way out is clear
Maybe squirm a little
If that helps
Svelte
Undaunted
by snow, sun, storm
Sheltered only underground
by a colony of stones
Slumbering ogres
The belly of the bear
Is it her blood?
Ursa, the mother bear
My companion in the night
Or is it the blackness
singing to itself?
Sadist
you’re not
going anywhere”
A sadist is winter
But for some reason,
I’m into it
Icicle Sky
But soon I will
carry them home
To feed the embers
nestled like rubies
in the ash of yesterday
2 Solstice Poems
Sometimes it happens
That I stay up late
Twinkling with the stars
Sirius flashing
her bright beauty
Friends
A living path
we walk together
Appreciating the sun
The scent of moist earth
Disintegrating leaves…
Refuge
I mend the world
I birth mountains
from my womb
And grow flowers
from my breast
Silence
you listen
as stars flutter
And the wide open world
spreads its arms to the sky
casting its heart aloft
On Writing
Let the roots sink down
The skin soften
Images, impressions gently arrive
Or maybe pour in
Until I can taste them on my tongue
If they chop open my body…
If they chop open my body,
I might sing, cry,
laugh, dance,
or crumble into dust.
And that’s alright too.
She Belongs to the Water
As languid rivulets
trace the crevices
between earth and stone
Her body breathes,
yields, surrenders
Micro poetics
Tonight is quiet
and the mist gathers
Soon wind and rain
and a tumult of trains
Keep listening
This narrow passage
We’re all just making it through
this narrow passage
Tend small things:
Birds, houseplants, soul
with tender care
A few words
to keep my promise
to the page
to the pen
that runs like a small stream
through dark wooded tangles
Night Grows Weary
Heavy has the sun hung low
As if ice has pressed her down
As if night is winning
the arm wrestling
competition
Where I Live (spoken word)
The bottom drops away
and I jump
out of my skin
that wasn’t there
And I laugh
A Spell of Protection
befriending fire
playing with water
making medicine
gathering herbs
learning birdsong…
Let bones rattle to the floor… (spoken word)
Peel away the skin
Let bones rattle to the floor
To be gathered in loving arms
Brought to the fire
To cook, to char
Winter Moon (spoken word)
Brushed by the
hand of the wind
Her ten-thousand hands
Laughing as they paint,
breathe, paint…
Chihuahuan Desert (ode)
The world is soft
to the eyes
Sage, sky, and dust
But sharp, rough
to the touch
Sweet Water (ode to Oregon)
Spider spun
in your web
Your boughs
become my
breath
a moment of tenderness…
we play small
Not because we are afraid
But because we are
already filled
with the universe
Homecoming
I would like to see Beauty herself
begin to do the devouring
Let the walls be overtaken
with vines, flowers,
butterflies, fruits