In celebration of National Poetry Month, I am inviting several poet friends to join me in my daily endeavor of paying poetic attention to the world. This week I am humbled and thrilled to be sharing the practice with my dear friend TC Tolbert, who was recently named the Poet Laureate of Tucson, AZ.  TC often identifies as a trans and genderqueer feminist, collaborator, dancer, and poet but really s/he’s just a human in love with humans doing human things. Find out more and follow him here.

everything is broken
and most days i think
it’s my fault.
welcome to
the way things are:
fissure itself as a kind of fiber,
like the gauze we use
to make the bandage-
equal parts thread
and not thread; strand
and the space between.
even mending is a repetition
of tiny ruptures, over and over
split until strong,
glow visible only when cracked.

photo and poem by katherine ferrier ©2017

this morning the baby
chicken flew to the edge
of her cage for
the first time – she
could have gone
anywhere – what will I be
a student of today – 60%
of pet owner’s if faced
with an evacuation with-
out their pet would refuse
to leave the house – I don’t
know who I am
in this emergency – “planned
disaster” is the new
language for large public
event – she chose
food instead
of freedom – I wrote
it but I don’t know if I
believe it – I’ll say it
again – I love
you is never
the wrong choice –

photo and poem by TC Tolbert ©2017