The Reversal of a Sprouted Me

By Sarah E N Kohrs

Do trees remember

their time within the seed?

Compacted potential

 

until water decompresses

life into being. Growth

streaking sunward, wonder

 

settles into roots, quick

to sip up what they can

while they can. Every year

 

sap returns to a womblike

state before the spring

inspires fresh leaves again.

 

I yearn for such renewal.

A chance to settle stilly

in a starry moment, without

 

nightmares or broken

promises. Just a calmness

seeping into my oceanic veins.

 

Wonder decompressing

and inspiring a fresh me

to rejoin a world I love again.

Sarah E N Kohrs has 84 poems in journals worldwide, including Arboreal, Bluebird Word, Chariot Press, The Elevation, Kitchen Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, Philly Poetry Chapbook Review, and Rattle. She received the Peter K. Hixson poetry award and the Kingdoms in the Wild chapbook award for Chameleon Sky. Sarah has a BA from The College of Wooster and a Virginia teaching license. She homeschools, creates pottery and fine art photography, and volunteers for Shenandoah County NAACP and the arts non-profit VECCA. Sarah humbly recognizes Shawandasse Tula, Manahoac, and Monacan, who first loved the land where she now lives in Shenandoah Valley.