Events

Poem from To Walk the North Direction

The Gardener

The lapis light of morning diffused by marine mist
paints a canvas of wooly pastels.
The whistling buoy cries out, searing the white air,
returning to the shore like a cherished echo
climbing up the headland to my cabin
at the wood’s edge.
I stop my absentminded weed pulling, mid-tug,
perking my head up like Coyote to sniff the air—
receive the whistle that traveled
all this way
to settle in my garden.
I stuff it in my pocket
atop a falcon’s shriek, waves lapping,
and the lazy buzz of a dying bee.
My pocket bulges to overflowing.
I will pluck them as needed
to fertilize my spirit.

Praise for To Walk the North Direction by C.L. Downing

To Walk the North Direction by C.L. Downing is a narrative of a life fully lived, stories of deepening self-awareness and empathy toward the world with a voice free of artifice or self-pity. Downing’s writing blooms with energy, wit, and honesty. Through each poem, her integrity as a creator is obvious. With a style all her own, she grants her subjects full reveal without sentimentality, but always through her kind heart, which is why she can be trusted. Readers will feel their own life experience expand in Downing’s recounting of her time spent paying concentrated attention to the world. 
    —Caroline Boutard, author of Each Leaf Singing