After Mary Oliver, after her last morning
That morning in the forest
standing in the cool green
passage of unguarded air
unending leaves I felt
Earth’s arms reach
toward the drum of sky
I felt the inspiration
vireos violetears
voice boxes unboxing
the first lung-beats of dawn
each pulse a color
lush as breath as light
seeping soft across the soft
tingling membrane of the lake
It made a blush of fishes rise
streaks of red inflaming
the cool skin of water
How struck we all were
each fish bird nerve
the full kettlebowl of dawn
brewing a stirring symphony
The wild birds said come
let’s spread our songs to the world
The wild birds said come
let’s forget the time they say we’ve lost
The wild birds said let’s live
It was the last morning
and finally I remembered
the bloodlines branching in our veins
our bone-chests nested with loss
How like the forest birds we are
mother and chick enfolded
in tender lichens of birth prayer love
then off to a bedtime of dust
death a dark egg trembling
in the brain’s ancestral roost
Walking in the morning forest
I heard the issue deep within
the Earth and through the trees
the dim orchestra of a world unmet
I attended the memorials
of dirt wept at the burials
of seeds praised the undertaking
of worms I moved past
the fresh carcass of regret
I felt an ancient longing
strike the gourds of rain
The wild birds bore the downfall
and a darkness in their skein
I know I cannot bear
the loss that way
Summer Edward is a Ginkgo Prize longlisted author who writes for both children and adults. She is also a Young Readers’ Editor at Kirkus Reviews, a children’s editor, childhood literacy specialist, former university writing tutor, and the founding editor emeritus of Anansesem, an ezine devoted to covering Caribbean children’s and young adult literature. She holds a Masters of Education degree in Reading, Writing, Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania and studied fiction at the Kelly Writers House. Her writing for adult audiences has appeared in numerous publications and journals internationally, and in the anthologies Bookmarked: New Caribbean Writing (PREE Ink, 2021), New Daughters of Africa (HarperCollins USA, 2019), and New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean (Peepal Tree Press, 2016). Her children’s book debut, The Wonder of the World Leaf, was published by HarperCollins UK in 2021, and she has six more children’s books forthcoming, to be published by Heinemann USA in 2022. Summer is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago and divides her time between the two countries. Learn more at www.summeredward.com.