what do you want to create?

a poem about asking the right questions, to the right kind of people.

I am asked this question:
what do you want to create?
the immediate answer is surprisingly simple:
a life of joy.

I want to know, dear ones, what is it
you want to create?
what does your desire taste like?
how does it grow?

I wander out
under a canopy of mist on a quiet Sunday morning,
and whisper into thick air:
what do you want to create?

Yarrow answers first: a safe landing.

Willow: connection.

Clover puts it simply: cover - complete.

These answers come quick and easy as I take
lazy steps around the garden’s shore.

I find my way to the shade of Hemlock, who answers long and slow:
a peaceful home.
the titmice and finches sing their agreement
as they dip between the boughs.

Red Oak whispers: enough.
I bow as I pass. 

Lavender: who are you again?
“Sorry”, I say out loud,
acknowledging the pressure
remember to look sideways for an answer.

I lean back and let the question land on the mist as I pass.
what do you want to create?

Tobacco: a place for light to land.
Wild carrot: fertile ground.
and Zinnia, whose first bloom
has arrived this morning: 
joy.

The interview ends
and I step inside
carrying
my empty basket
full of joy.

photos: top: black cohosh buds, below: elderflowers

p.s. this question was posed during a session with Elemental Vessel, a phenomenal group process I co-facilitate with Dana Iova-Koga. The next cycle begins this fall.

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