Anguish as a Houseplant

by Sarah Hennessey

Blinds funnel sunshine 
to a water stained window sill 
My roots search our soil 
with waning vigor 

Hold this moment 
with meditative stillness 
Find balance between 
need and yearning 
don’t let panic 
prune fresh growth 

Morning mist 
must be enough for now 
Surely southern sunlight 
will kiss me once more 

One season’s shadowed sunrise 
is another season’s  
mild morning  
and still another’s  
fevered midday 

There is grace 
in patience 
and there is peace 
in cherishing the bulb 
and relishing the bud 

One cannot assume 
a bloom will thrive in every season 
Thusly one must measure 
each season  
not by blooms 
but by roots 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Hennessey is a Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) poet and performer residing in Southeastern Pennsylvania. She draws on her study of linguistics and her equestrian work.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Rachel Singel is an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville. Rachel grew up on a small farm in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in 2009 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the University of Iowa in 2013. Rachel has participated in residencies at the Penland School of Crafts, the Venice Printmaking Studio, Internazionale di Grafica Venezia, Art Print Residence in Barcelona, Spain, and Wharepuke Print Studios in New Zealand. She has studied non-toxic printmaking at the Grafisk Eksperimentarium studio in Andalusia and will continue her research at Proyecto’ace, an Artist-in-Residence Program in Buenos Aires, Argentina in Summer 2021. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and represented in private, public, and museum collections.