Poem: Scott Edward Anderson

healing

"Healing, not saving." ~ Gary Snyder

"Healing, not saving," for healing
indicates corrective, reclaiming

restoring the earth to its bounty,
to right placement and meaning--

Forward thinking, making things new
or better or, at least, bringing back

from the edge. The way
bulbs are nestled in earth,

starting to heal again--
the way a wound heals.

Keep warm. Sun following
rain; rain following drought.

Perhaps we have come far enough
along in this world to start

healing, protecting from harm,
from our disjunctive lives.

The way the skin repairs with a scab,
injury mediated by mindfulness.

The bark of the "tree of blood"
heals wounds we cannot see.

Deliver us from the time of trial
and save us from ourselves.



~ Scott Edward Anderson was a Concordia Fellow and poet-in-residence at the Millay Colony for the Arts in November 2002. His work received the Nebraska Review Award in 1997 and the Aldrich Emerging Poets Award in 1998. His poetry has appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, The Cortland Review, Cross Connect, Isotope, River Oak Review and Terrain, among other publications. He is a founding editor of Ducky Magazine (www.duckymag.com).