A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Loving Presence

MiLisa Coleman, Oakland, California, USA

 

There is clay under your toenails

From a morning of earthing

Cold still left on your soles

Quelling the sadness to come

With rosewater sips 

Your face a blanket of uncertainty

As the sun recedes 

You also retreat

I pause at the threshold of a decadent partition

I am enticed by the gentle coaxing of faint warbling

Emanating from behind the faded linen

A vestige of nature's perfume tickles my nose

Igniting empathy in my nerve endings

"Reclaim your color", I heard you sing

Transported into your hideaway 

I wish to be reborn into this looming to keep you company

One with the process of growth like sown seeds tossed by billowing winds

Patient to witness 

Your blossoming

 

MiLisa Coleman (they/them) is a poet, writer, and visual storyteller. They earned a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media from Cleveland State University. Their work investigates the overlap in nature, imagination, and the human condition. Coleman has exhibited their work in solo exhibitions and group performances, and has worked in media production. They completed a writer-in-residence program through Twelve Literary Arts' Baldwin House Urban Writing Residency. Their first publication is in the forthcoming issue of Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. They are currently based in Oakland, CA.

Affirmation

inner hebrides, august