Still Point

Listening, my laddered breath
tries to slow the pace, the tug

to match the movement
of turtles and tree swallows

that riffle the still point
with a stillness of their own.

I twirl and arc until I’m not sure
if I’m listening

to the marsh’s unwinding story
or if the marsh is listening to me.

The only way to know
is to listen.

Vulture

Rhododendron’s white knots 
begin to loosen.

My mind untethers a problem. 
Rabbit tracks teach me nothing 

of how to decide. 
I’m convinced there’s a clue 

being left for me 
if only I could decipher it. 

The vulture switchbacks 
the sky. Ash trees collide 

as though there’s been 
a resolution to applaud. 

I’m wrong in the end. 
There’s no hidden meaning. 

I’m loitering uncomfortably close 
to the lengthy edge of day. 

The knowing I thought I’d find 
isn’t here. I’m heading 

home now as though I know 
where I belong.

Tully Creek

December coaxes an egg-white sun.
Trees line up like sharpened pencils.

And in a clearing, geese observe
an ancient rite astride daybreak

and evening, a few tipped over
at water’s edge,

levered there like devotees at prayer.
And I too wish to pray unhurried

to wild celery and rhizomes.
Only one goose honks at a time

as if instructing this tributary
in the art of taking turns

as if hope, wintered over,
were a creek or a lover

ready to return like the earth
in rotation, beholden to sun.

My intention is to live each day mindfully with gratitude and also with awareness of oppression and injustice in the world. My regular spiritual practices include contemplation, journaling, poetry, prayer, and bhakti and hatha yoga. I am especially inspired and nurtured by nature whether I am sitting on my back porch, walking along the ocean at sunset, or hiking a wooded trail. I am a minister, and my Unitarian Universalist faith offers me guiding values and a spiritual community.

Sandra Fees (she/her) is the author of The Temporary Vase of Hands (Finishing Line Press, 2017) and Moving, Being Moved (Five Oaks Press, 2017). She served a term as Berks County Poet Laureate (2016-2018), and her work has appeared in The Comstock Review, New Madrid, Poets Reading the News, The Blue Nib and Kissing Dynamite. Her work was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2020. She holds degrees in English Literature from Shippensburg University (B.A.) and Syracuse University (M.A.), as well as degrees in theology from Lancaster Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry). She serves as a Unitarian Universalist minister, and lives in Reading, Pennsylvania.

More on Sandra Fees’ work can be found on our Links page.