For Now, We Have the Soil

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 5

The prickly sensation of my skin
Reminds me that I spent time outdoors
In the garden today, in full sun,
Under a cloudless spring day.

The 24 hour infotainment news,
On countless channels, doesn’t pause
Their grotesque manufacturing of consent.
But we can pause, just for a while.

We can go outside and find a garden—
Our own, or a friend’s, or neighbor’s—
Or a plot in a community garden,
Or some other plot that we can tend.

We haven’t distanced ourselves so far
From nature as many would like to believe.
We are creatures subject to the cycles
Of seasons, geography, weather…

So much of human life today
Is conflict and battle with the natural world.
It is medicine to return our hands to the soil
And collaborate with Mother Earth.

Everything in the world is trembling turmoil;
It can feel like there is no escape.
But we can turn off the screens and step outside:
For now, we have the soil.