How To Spring
Gen Emerson
Pepper the mulch under the downspout with vigorous sprigs of mint
Billow icy winds across blades of warm skin
Frost windows
Chartreuse each stem, pink the tips, purple the reaches
Pocket soft raindrops
Cry hawk awake
Drop stripes alive on feather, on thorax
Cycle bright sunshine, moon-wide and mountain
Shake out the apron, star stuff and bones
Quake the mantle
Flake beneath crust
Silence a ruckus of reasons and whys
Nuthatch the robins
Crow the quail
Thread needles of spruce with yarn for nests
Funnel soft blossoms of cherry, of plum
Morph naiads in thousands
Split the line, crack the chrysalis
Burst as cloud
Willow ‘round elk
Mist a kind face, drizzle the mornings, shadow the walks
Bark with babies, stomp the rocket, squeak delight
Howl under awnings, ripple the drips
Flurry through cattails, glistening crystal
Curve down under geese
Frill fully winged
Emerge beetle-backed, voracious and frenzy
Hatch
Open
Churn the river and bow
Reading recommendation? Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart – Poems by Alice Walker
“Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart” refers to a Buddhist teaching about bringing calm, loving attention to the roots of our personal and collective suffering in order to transform it. Through the pages of this fiercely honest, uplifting and insightful collection of poems, Alice Walker bears unflinching witness to the state of planetary peril and rampant social inequity we see today. Walker’s poems shine a resolute light on the historical roots of our shared societal suffering and nourish the power of transformation that is available to anyone who dares to lean in and dive deep.
Gen Emerson provides Patron Services support for The Cabin, and brings 30 years of experience tending to relationships and building community connections in a wide variety of ways—from personal gardening and wildlife biology to song leading and museum visitor services, communication is at the heart of her career to date. Her creative work takes many forms—most of it designed to be ephemeral, or intended for a specific healing purpose or function. She loves to fashion things with wood, bind books, embroider, create music, share songs, write poetry and express her bright inner world with photography, sidewalk chalk, prismas and printmaking. Gen typically shares her creative work within small established circles of community and has not yet created a habit of publishing her work, though this is subject to change.
