"Our First Mother"
Ellie Brooks
The Earth is still alive
though we all exist on different planes
I hope it’s not an exclusive club
experiencing nature this way
the geese in the distance
the fish in the water
my breath lept
when one jumped out to catch a bug
sending ripples through my silence
I look to my bike under the moonlight
during 3am rides in the chill of a September night
I feel connected to other poets
the crazies of this world who cannot sleep
and are not trapped by their anxieties when
they roam free in the landscape they belong
not conceiving of their own minds’ universes but
honing in and connecting
they’re learning how to tell the tales
of this world around us
Earth, she told me something last night
has she ever told you of her moonlight starry night
and all who dance underneath it
the steam rising from the water
to float to the tune of flickering bugs in the brush
am I a part of this
with my 2 wheeled metal motion extension
driving by in the night
the cars seem so invasive
though their engines roar
with merely mechanical might
I would jump if a snake crawled up beside me
even now I sit on shifted stone as if to remind
how I do not quite belong, anymore, in the grass
I find no comfort in the fellow passerbys
they invade the intimacy of such a place
though we share our species
I am most likely an intruder, like them, all the same
But mother nature didn’t knit her riverbends
solely for my lonesome encounters
Her bounty is plentiful
and there for every straggler to seek
the wanderlust we feel is the call within us
to allow earth to discover herself
but we’ve forgotten how to love her
and take for ourselves instead
perhaps it is time to think
and no longer blindly borrow from our Mother
because she will have the final say
on the timing of our last tomorrow
for when she bends she breaks
and if she breaks she grows stronger
she gave birth to the land we walk on this way
we cannot forget Her
if we are to go on.
Because the Earth is still alive
and will be once we’ve gone.
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My name is Ellie, I'm a writer based in Upstate NY. I love spending my days walking quietly through the woods or sneaking up on waterfalls. Currently, I'm saving up and planning for a walk across the United States on the American Discovery Trail.
Instagram: @tetheredweather
Beautiful imagery in prose and photography. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Ellie how inspiring and beautifully written capturing the Spirit of Nature in all of us🌟❤️🌺
Amazing Ellie… What an inspiring poem… So happy to see you published! I am sharing this with everyone I know.
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