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

Notice

Calvin VanErgens (Michigan, USA)

 

 ____________________

WANTED: TAXONOMIST

Specializing in lichens.

Though learning to name

and notice them is to be 

taxing, they’re not to be

missed, as I know I do. 

One or two I know, like

those likened to and 

liked by reindeer and 

thus called accordingly. 

But I want to know, can 

I nap in its spongy bed

in forest rain? Your help is 

appreciated. Appreciation 

will be easier with help—

of their color, not that of 

blazing summer flower 

and autumn leaf, yet some

of nature’s best. Calm. If 

blazing, then a pinprick of 

blood red. Sometimes color

on a tree in Michigan I’d 

expect in Bahamian 

ocean. If over a dozen 

species nestle on an old

split rail, what does a 

forest hold? Could you

walk me through it?

_____________________

 

 

Calvin VanErgens is a poet from a place called the Great Lakes State: Michigan, USA. He often uses poems to tell made-up stories in the voices of the made-up people. The poetry of Calvin VanErgens has recently appeared at the Reformed Journal and the Reformed Journal podcast and at Ekstasis.  

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