…I became exasperated searching for plants who were not as intertwined with other plants and who I’d captured with clean enough edges to isolate it and allow it to jut into the white border like that one green leaf. And most of all, I didn’t have the patience for it not to be ordered.

I wrote the first poem in this series, in March 2022. By the end of April, I'd quit my 9-5 and left Chicago where I was living at the time. The past few years had seen countless doctor's visits, 3 minor surgeries, 2 emergency room visits, months of severe insomnia, digestive issues, and hair loss. Even though I am a mystic and a Spiritual Director, it took a year and many different places to “get” what my body and spirit were telling me.