Tianna Morgon – Kansas City, Missouri

I smell the dampness of the earth where it comes up, kissing the rocks, mixing its mist with the oxygen. The sound of the crickets greeting not me, but it – I am a witness and audience member – to their show. I see flowers of the hurrying vines that cascade down, grasping to be immersed in the gentle stream. A crane is perched; an otter is afloat. The turtles gather on a log. The water shapes the landscape as a silent architect, ever evolving, creating, moving. Now the fields run up to the banks in anticipation of being nourished and transcending. The earth beckons, I feel it running through me too: warming through my stomach, my heart, my veins.