Kinship: A poem

Kinship: A poem

By Leah Salter . . .

Submerged in the struggle to go on and on

An earth’s-crust-deep echo of us

Of community

Grounds my flight

Transforming anxious movement to soulful steadiness

From which we may flow

In readiness

In fellowship with everything that lives

And has lived

We are simultaneously who we are

Who we have been

And who we will be

Time a mere pattern

A patter of tic and toc

Of foot fall on fallen branches

Of claws scratching at age-old bark

Of beaks tapping at salty shell

No matter; but matter

Holding us still

A breath ready to expel

Into the wind

A toe ready to land softly

On mossy ground

A hand ready to touch

And be touched

We feel its coming

In the spaces between

This is where we pause

And be still

A dynamic stability

An invitation to rest in flow

To be all of our moments

To be kin

This poem and the corresponding image were inspired by, or more accurately created by a deep connection with, the solidarity/ kinship group of which I “belong”.

Thanks to: Ange, Julia, Kim and Lorna.