Open the Doors

Fortitude has nothing 
to do with building
a fort around
yourself
and everything to do
with opening the doors
of your mind

The word fortitude means strength of mind and bravery in the face of difficulty. While these things might make you think of defenses or barreling through something head down, I’d like to invite us to consider how this season might engage with fortitude. 

Every year spring teaches us how softening and opening brings life.

This morning, after what’s been a cold beginning to April, dawn brought birdsong and spring peepers. The land opens with song, and I understand how it’s the willingness to come out of hibernation, the celebration of bringing our soft bodies into the sunlight, that is the strength of this season. 

Strength is not building walls. Bravery is not going it alone. 

It’s opening windows and doors, gathering together, and raising our voices in song, that is the fortitude of spring.

So be soft and brave. 

Remember your song. 

Add it to the chorus that’s singing in a new season, and let those notes rise louder than those who would have us believe in the myth of self-sufficiency and hard power. We are stronger and braver and more creative together. 

National Poetry Month Event

Poetry + Maple Creemees! 

Come gather on Saturday, April 26 at Silloway Maple in Randolph, VT to celebrate National Poetry Month and PoemTown Randolph.

I'm so excited to read with two amazing farmer poets,

Remember, we were made for this: to create and grow and tend and eat and celebrate together. Let me know if you'll be there!