How to fall in love with land

a ten-step poem

Step One: Put away all devices and screens

Hide your phone

Turn off the television

Close your computer


Step Two: Breathe in deeply

Relax into Earth as you exhale

repeat… repeat… repeat…

remember, your breath is a gift from the plants and trees


Step Three: Step Outside

Thank the plants and trees

with a song of recognition

with the beat of your heart 

with the release of your tears

No matter where you are… no matter where you are


Step Four: Notice Wild Beauty

Even the dandelion

Especially the dandelion


Step Five: Listen To Wild Beauty

The melody of a wood thrush

The caw of a raven

The song of a coyote


Step Six: Sing With Wild Beauty

Talk to the wood thrush

Mimic the raven

Howl for the coyote


Step Seven: Touch Wild Beauty

Take off your shoes, feel the soil beneath your feet

Reach out your hand, feel the rough skin of a beloved tree

Lift your face to the wind, stay still and receive


Step Eight: Taste Wild Beauty

The sweetness of wild blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

The bitterness of dandelion leaves, wormwood, motherwort

The sourness of japanese knotweed shoots

A nourishing infusion of stinging nettles


Step Nine: Sit With Wild Beauty

An urban lot reclaimed by wildflowers

A rural, multispecies meadow

An old, old forest 

Witness the diversity 

Count the species

Forget yourself amongst your relatives


Step Ten: Become Wild Beauty

Repeat Steps one through nine

and remember 

you are an animal

Remember that

the trees, the dandelion, the raven, and the coyote  

are your kin

repeat…

repeat…

repeat…

Photo by Abbie Chohrach on Unsplash