‘All recycled materials’

I am endlessly fascinated by the fact that all of us are made up of little bits of previously nonhuman things, and by how connected we are to the entire web of life and the planet.

This theme shows up in more detail in another of my recent poems, which is set to appear in the summer 2022 edition of Sea & Cedar Magazine, so stay tuned for that if you’re interested. In the meantime I give you ‘All recycled materials’, which appears (along with two other poems of mine) in the SWC’s hot-off-the-press ninth anthology, Sooke Roots, available through their website and at the Sooke Night Market on July 21, August 18, and September 1 (there you can find all nine anthologies, the new poetry chapbook Where We Reside, and books by a number of lovely local authors!).

By the way, I know I’m not very good at keeping up an online presence. I promise I’m still here, but as usual I’m spending lots of time in the woods, reading, making music, swimming in the rather cold ocean, and writing down new poems as they appear. This one was conceived in the woods near SELEK̵TEL̵ (Goldstream River) in Coast Salish territory. I hope you enjoy it.

All recycled materials
by Allie Picketts

I always think I am going

to the woods to untangle things,

stomp in with eyes on the root-earth-

stone-leaf weave of the path

sit and mutter as I drop stitches into the creek

or toss knots to the ground in

resignation

and, turning to leave,

find that the needles

of hemlock and fir must have crept

up beside me to knit my

tatters into a gift of

all recycled materials

for me

like me.