Hello world, I wrote this poem last fall as a rumination on death and life, impermanence and transition. Now as I prepare to leave SMC for new journeys, it seems fitting to share.

gathering up the courage
to say goodbye to good friends
gathering up the pink in the
clouds as it swells into peach
and then dusty blue
gathering up the things i need for
today in my old pack.
pulling together the sound the wind makes
through tall dry grasses
golden ice of late october
the dreams of morning
hearing scratching in the wall or floor
gathering up the swollen parts of my heart
for you to hold
the honey and peanut butter, avocados
and incense smoke
to coax you, tether you back into
this world for a moment
stuck on cobwebs in the rafters for
just a sound, a smell of this Earth
i gather up deer bones from the mountainside
and trees and the dry, cold dirt
i lay them next to mine,
bound together, hinged to hold us
for as long as this little while lasts.
forming mounds
form matters of life
and death and the
strings that tangle
us up, suspended
openings
to a great light in the sky.
cut
drifting into evening
i drown my lungs in living
i wait to see you again

About the Author

Rachel Zetah Becker is an artist, designer, occasional poet,
& aspiring astronaut. Her interests include adventure, human spirituality, fried egg sandwiches, and saving Planet Earth.
See more of her work here: www.rachelzbecker.com