For the second installment of my Bike Wilder Poetry CSA Subscription I have letter press printed and hand sewn my poem: The Red Birds in My Blood: After Lyla June and David Wiggins into a book. You can read the poem below and subscribe here or visit my store. These poems will only be available through the subscription.

The Red Birds of My Blood

After Lyla June and David Wiggins

September 2018, Point Abbaye, Michigan –
I overheard the trees talking to themselves.
I listened as the wind slipped between their trunks and the red birds of my blood
swarmed through watery stars:

remember that grief and magic co-exist
everything you need is already present inside you the medicine is scattered everywhere
appeal to people’s spirits rather than their training validate their willingness to deviate
create space for the paradoxes to exist
engagement replaces fear
remember both action and inaction have an impact this work is an honour not a burden
stay with the inquiry of how it can be better
the future does not evolve in the echo chamber
the future lies in engaging with difference
don’t act in resistance or duality
but instead cultivate reciprocity
when you address water and plants
as the living beings that we are
we will tell you profound things
your reality is only as vast
as the diversity of the relationships you nurture don’t personify the river, riverfy yourself
restore your courage in the flash of its teeth
name yourself after the land don’t name the land after yourself
a heart the size of a match will burn out like one too always work in service of imagination
sit close to the fire and keep it true
do not retreat to your private life
the predictable stories are the ones lived in fear
while the stories with no clear endings or beginnings
are lived in witness to love
transaction and reciprocity are not the same
get as close to the darkness as an owl
consider that the answers you seek
are not material, but rather spiritual, thus forever fluid, to best receive them you must hollow yourself out
so their messages can ring through you
remember that conflict can be the work working
aim for the heart, to affect the mind
so that hands can reach
do not fret, there is more water coming to join the river.