Jamie Alm

Despair for the world directs me to this silent heronry.
Everything holds together on this tangled staff
Formed with winter-bare branches. Weary sighs, wordless
Groans harmonize alongside whispered prayers on the wind.
Astonished, I watch. Weather-worn, time-tested twig nests
Become whole notes. This minor scale rises, flattening fear,
Calling forth from me, a strange song of praise

for these nests,

this moment

and my very breath.

 

—

Jamie Alm is a mother to three school-aged daughters. She is currently enrolled in a Narrative Medicine program of study through Columbia University. When not working as a speech therapist, she carves out time to write, create and cultivate community.