Evergreen upsides
from naked seed.
Even you, my little sapling,
formed from a kernel
that swarmed to find home
in a wet and unprotected womb.
Split seed, sweetlip
hoist and tremble.
Every tree fumbling
in the shadow of parent
stretches to claim
its stake of the light.

Jill McCabe Johnson is the author of two poetry collections, Revolutions We’d Hoped We’d Outgrown (Finishing Line, 2017) and Diary of the One Swelling Sea (MoonPath, 2013), and the nonfiction chapbook, Borderlines (Sweet Publications, 2016). She is series editor for the Being What Makes You anthology series from the University of Nebraska Gender Programs, and founding director of Artsmith. Jill teaches English at Skagit College in the San Juan Islands, where she lives with her husband.
Website: jillmccabejohnson.com
Twitter: @JMcJohnson