Be like the Earth. She doesn’t care if you love Her or think She’s beautiful. She continues existing the way She has always existed; She continues doing exactly what She has done since She was born. Some people revel in Her beauty. Some destroy it: they tear Her down and tell Her how She should be and try to change Her to meet their needs. But She does not change; She does not bend. She continues to be how She always has been. The streams that have always flooded continue to flood. The forest fires continue to burn. Droughts continue to dry the land. We blame Her for being herself, for refusing to change for us, and yet She continues on. 

Be like the Earth. It is okay to catch fire– it clears crowded places and makes them clean. Let there be drought and flood to allow seeds to germinate and grow. The universe is inside you– do not fear these times. Do not dam the floods within you or try to put out your fires. Let them cleanse you, let them grow you, and no matter what, continue to persevere.

Be like the Earth: cause earthquakes in cities you never wanted built in the first place.

Be like the Earth // a.s.m 

i want to see all of you,
every inch. every
mountain, every forest,
every ocean, every river
and canyon. i want to know
every mark on the map,
and i want to fall in love
with all of it.
i want to see and know
this is where i belong.
that you are a part of me
as much as i am a part of you.

let me lie in your valleys // a.s.m

dear little egg, you’re
going to open your eyes
for the first time in a white
room, not knowing that 
my childhood home is now
underwater. and when 
you are older, i will let
you run in the back yard
without shoes on, but
you will never know the comfort
of sinking into healthy
soil. you will never understand
what it means to make a mark on
the earth that does not hurt
it. 
seven years’ worth of leaves
will still be decaying, and 
i will not know how to explain 
where they came from. 
i will not know how to explain
to you that other beings used to
live here, too, or
that there was once another planet
underneath a green canopy and
in autumn, the skies would 
bathe in fire.

i hope we’ll be living with windmills // a.s.m

inhale. exhale. 
inhale oxygen. exhale carbon dioxide. 
inhale oxygen exhale carbon dioxide.
inhale oxygen inhale carbon dioxide exhale oxygen inhale carbon dioxide inhale
oxygen exhale carbon dioxide exhale oxygen exhale carbon dioxide inhale carbon dioxide inhale oxygen inhale
carbon dioxide exhale
oxygen exhale
carbon dioxide inhale oxygen
exhale carbon dioxide exhale oxygen.

the earth’s breath is getting warmer // a.s.m

i long to be just as the earth, 
knowing words are merely what people say.
i’ve suffered through the pain of birth
only from her to be torn away.

my entire life i’ve yearned
to be near to her beating heart,
with time, with patience i have learned
an open mind is where it starts.  

it seems to us a mystery–
how can we hear our mother talk?
don’t rush through life in such hurry;
she speaks in footsteps as you walk.

all she humbly asks of us:
to look at every living thing,
to see the beauty and genius
 
and feel the joy to her they bring.

an ode to my beautiful mother Earth and all fellow living beings. what a beautiful planet we live on // a.s.m

i find the quietness i crave
amid the forest’s windy veins
where my mind can be at peace, 
where my thoughts vacate with ease. 
here my feet become my breath
and my mind one with the earth,
i come to realize my worth: 
an atom in the universe.

i can always find peace in the forest. // a.s.m

If we are able to– with a clear conscience– call this Earth our mother while simultaneously abusing, destroying, and killing her, I am truly horrified to imagine how people must treat their earthly mothers.

as children of this Earth, we need to overcome our ‘teenage rebellion’ phase: when will we grow up and learn to love and respect our planet? // a.s.m