We Carry

We Carry

This collaborative poem came out of a workshop that used writing to process the trauma of Helene and look to nature as a guide for how to build hope and resilience.

English

We carry the water
We carry the roads washed down
mountainsides and mudslide scars
We carry the blankets of dust, inches
thick- on our shoes, in our lungs

We carry the joy of a long overdue shower
We carry the memory of the first time we cried after the storm

We carry our uncertainty
to unknown ends
We carry our friends forward with helping
hands

No matter our purpose
No matter how we serve, we carry and uplift our community
so long as we choose our community,
In carrying we care

We carry hope,
laughter, and tears;
all mixed in a soup we
served to our neighbor
We carry the grief
That it will never
be the same

We carry the longing for what was, and
the pain of its absence

We carry the hopes to rebuild and give homes
to the houseless

We carried the lead soles of our
soggy shoes
We carried donations and produce and
hot meals
We carried each other
We carried on

We carry the sting of uncertainty
We carry our faith in magic

Our hearts swell even as they drag
as “we’s” become “I’s” again,
we wait, wait for cracks to form
and expand and for life to push out
from them

We wait for a present we cannot recognize,
one we can’t dream of,
one impossible from here,
but perhaps from elsewhere…