Mindful Monday: The Blackened Shoreline

“And I would travel with you 
to the places of our shame
The hills stripped of trees, the marshes grasses s
oil-slicked, steeped in sewage;
The blackened shoreline, the chemical-poisoned water;
I would stand with you in the desolate places, the charred places,
 soil where nothing will ever grow, pitted desert;

fields that burn slowly for months; roots of cholla & chaparrala
writhing with underground explosions
I would put my hand
 there with yours, I would take your hand, I would walk with you

through carefully planted fields, rows of leafy vegetables 
drifting with radioactive dust; through the dark
 of uranium mines hidden in the sacred gold-red mountains;

I would listen with you in drafty hospital corridors 
as the miner cried out in the first language of pain; as he cried out
 the forgotten names of his mother I would stand
 next to you in the forest’s final hour, in the wind
 of helicopter blades, police

sirens shrieking, the delicate
 tremor of light between
leaves for the last
 time Oh I would touch with this love each
wounded place”

– Anita Barrows

Our next Thrive: Eco Grief and Anxiety Circle is Monday, November 21st – Meeting on Zoom from 6-7:30pm PST. Find the link in our bio or directly on our website.🌿Questions? Contact Brittany at brittanynecmail@gmail.com

Photo by @animate.earth

#nec #mindfulmondays #northcoastenvironmentalcenter#climateanxiety #ecogrief #workthatreconnects