Tonight we will love everything
  and carry the plants within.
And did I tell you I lived in you
when I made you out of gossamer,
that I loved you
            when it made no sense?

Today I carry you and the plants inside me.
    I slip my hand inside,
and there are all these green leaves,
    but you don't notice all I carry within me.

Inside me everything is warm and abundant.
The grass inside, the trees, and you inside.
Earth, seaweed, plant,  seeds.
      I carry all within me.

Sometimes I give birth to a family of trees.
And sometimes it rains and everything grows.

Dorothy Friedman August is a widely published award winning poet, with two NYFA fellowships and a Kathy Acker award. She has edited poetry for five decades and currently edits WHITE RABBIT. She has published three books of poetry two forthcoming from Poets Wear Prada and is working on a memoir, The Bastard Heirs, as well as teaching literature and creative writing at Empire State College and Fordham University.