Together
ARTIST STATEMENT: My intention is to inspire action rooted in the hope that sequestering carbon by the way we raise food is at least as potent a climate solution as reducing our fossil fuel use; and it is work that each family, neighborhood or person can take on, while rippling out into our communities through what others experience and hear from us each as we do so.
Poem and artwork by Carol "Kate" Wilburn. This story was collected as part of a 2023 open call for submissions. It is one of 17 stories that were selected to be published.
The parched land beckons at the core
of my being, in the marrow of my bones:
"Join with me to heal waters, air, Whooping
cranes, soils. Deliver them from the edge."
We seem to be racing for a grim
future. Burning air that crisps aching
throats. Atmospheric rivers. Death
from the sky.
Gravid mothers did not birth young
ones to wander a scorched planet. Rather
to thrive in the embrace of all life.
Imagine. Together we turn
from our extractive arts, learn anew
to protect the land. To tend, people
of Earth that we are. Human hands now
gentle on ground's pulse.
Let us partner as neighbors
with Her again in every yard.
We can bring home the harvest our keening
hearts always knew we could.
Beneath mulch coverlets and crimson
clover blankets of green, soil becomes
textured. Crumbly. Redolent with throngs
of microbes.
Catch the whispers of worms
sliding. Glimpse stranded networks. Tendrils
of mycorrhizae weave with webs of roots
in the original carbon trade. They
swap potent mineral liquids
drop by drop for sun-rich plant sugars.
Perennials join the joyous fray
to hold the Earth. Annuals with heirloom
blueprints. Seeds to save, pass
legacy along. Choices abound
to root into wholeness.
Dragon carrots. Black beauty zucchini.
Cherokee purple tomatoes. Nova
raspberries, '3 Lb Coffee Can'
asparagus. Golden currant blooms
swell to tart fruit globes.
Poetry in the dance of scarlet
runner beans and rufous hummingbirds,
chokecherries and mama butterflies.
Coral hairstreaks, Banded purples
feast, bring forth their next generation.
Hoary bats echo these aerial
celebrations, snatching juicy moths
on the wing. White-shouldered bumblebees
freight golden pollen from flower to nest.
There's a hum to this raising of food.
Lively communities intersect
so that soft weather can blossom
from local water cycles
of evaporation. Whole systems
of health breathe mist skyward to return
as blessed rain.
The grand circle is in good repair
once more. We consume with restraint. Share
with generosity: homes, seeds, food.
Team up. Wrap families
within the wonder of this work. Every day
a joyous picnic. We can walk, roll, bike,
even sing across the bridge above the chasm
back from the precipice
to embrace courage, enact hope.
There's all the breath in the world to cherish.
Together we reach for air that tastes
clean: a shower cascading delight
over thirsty lungs.
This is Emergency Preparedness.
Kate Wilburn live at the 2023 Missoula Climate Stories event
—
About Kate: At 68, I am a permaculture designer, an engineer, an activist, a teacher and an urban farmer. I carry all of that, and I actually come to this with a full heart as mother and as one whom the wild Land held gently during hard times in my childhood. I grieve that as humans together we have not figured this out and I yearn for a sweeter future for all beings. Offering this piece is one part I can play.