Last fall I thinned and divided some of the daisies and phlox and coneflowers and lilies and peonies in my gigantic flower garden. I tried to do such a careful job, but this spring the daisies and some of the coneflowers didn’t come back, and neither did the lavender, which I left undisturbed. I’ve planted delphiniums and coneflowers in their place, but I’m in mourning, as if by disrupting their natural growth I set something unintended in motion.
Choices, by Tess Gallagher
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don’t cut that one.
I don’t cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
(for Drago Štambuk)
Click here for more information about poet and short story writer Tess Gallagher. Today’s poem appears in her collection Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems, published in 2011 by Graywolf Press.
alisonmcghee.com
My podcast: Words by Winter
Alison McGhee 
We all had huge die-offs this season due to the lack of snow. Without a blanket of protection, plants were subjected to freezing roots. Likely had nothing to do with your interventions. be well —m.
*The text in this email is large so that I can see it and hopefully you can see it too. *m. cathcart, L.Ac., manual therapist, corrective exercise specialist http://www.dynamicfunctionalhealing.com 612.735.9993
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Thank you for these comforting words! I’ve heard this from others as well and it gives me hope.
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Just finished reading Weird, Sad and Silent. A gift to many! Keep doing what you do so well. – Miriam
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