My education is soil and twigs
the pale green of a leaf
the maze of a river
proof that nature
is a chess board to play
My beetle heart in a small jar
held to the light will hear
a Virginia night like a radio
siren, a spider weaving
the soft way ahead.
–
Kindra McDonald is the author of the collections Fossils and In the Meat Years and was the recipient of the 2020 Haunted Waters Press Poetry Award. She received her M.F.A. from Queens University of Charlotte and is an adjunct professor of writing and teaching artist at The Muse Writers Center. She serves as the Poetry Society of Virginia Southeastern Region Vice President.