I Hope I Am A Worthy Gardener

A poem excerpt from my new book, Harvesting Wild Light

Motherwort hid behind the town sign
hoping to go unnoticed, unmarked
letting her work her magic
quietly, surreptitiously
a few roots and stems lending their
fierce, feral power to the edge spaces
that enchant the thresholds between
machines and the wild sanctuaries of bird songs

Still, I asked for permission
and felt or wished for her yes
I pulled her up gently by the root
and tucked her, muddy and naked,
into the brown grocery bag

We escaped together. 

I placed her in the front garden
with a prayer of ancestral gratitude
I let her with sisters, yarrow, alchemilla, indigo
The rains came all summer and
I imagined her strong roots beneath black soil
searching and wondering where they had landed

I hope she is happy there
I hope I am a worthy gardener.

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I want to share a little behind the poem. This past summer I was a very hands-off gardener. Our yard was ripped open for a new gas line and it never seemed to stop raining. Floods washed away whole fields of crops along the Connecticut River across New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

But I did visit the green, growing things at our community garden and in wild fields on my occasional walks. I made flower essences and with reverence and permission, I gently dug up roadside weeds and brought them to my yard.

Mullein, Mugwort, and Comfrey. Milkweed, Elecampane, and Motherwort. 

A whole sisterhood of flowers that have sweet gifts to offer us, in body, mind, and spirit.

2023 was the summer my writing became more tightly wound together with my studies and practices in flower essences and herbalism, as I answer the call I’ve been hearing to live closer to the earth and soil. 

I suppose the takeaway here is reverence and humility. Each day I ask myself how I can do my work in service of something bigger than myself. Not for accolades or cash. I don’t reject such things, but the urgency to move forward goes so much deeper.

I’m a gardener of connection and beauty. A writer of poems and glowing embers.

I just want to bring light and warmth, comfort and nourishment, to as many people as I possibly can.

Tell me…what wild things are you tending in your life, your garden, and your writing?

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Leah Kent is a green witch and flower essence practitioner who drums before writing. Officially a book coach and author who helps wisdom keepers and visionaries write and publish transformational books about their work in the world.

Order your copy of Awakening the Visionary Voice.