This summer, we invited LMC's first poet-in-residence to produce a series of poems about the magnificence and beauty of Rockmont Park.

All along,

the world is playing us a symphony.

Not quiet in a silent way.

No, quiet in a perfectly natural, sometimes unexpected,

rippling, all connected, unassuming, orchestrated line by line,

explosively beautiful kind of way.

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These lines from come Mabry Cook, a rising sophomore at Washington & Lee University.

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Earlier this year, she approached us with a bold idea.

The Environmental Studies and Creative Writing major wanted to write a series of poems about Rockmont Park.

 "What haven is found there, for animals, plants and humans alike?" she asked. 

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Her eight-poem collection is called This Is How We Make It In The World. Not long ago, she held a private poetry reading for us.

Because of the way we conserve,
we know what it means to be cared for.
We know how it feels to be tilled, watered, and fed,
but then left alone to be. 

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We're proud and honored to share two of her poems below, with the promise of more to come.

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(Photos are courtesy of Sarah Buckner Photography.)

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Conserving vs. Preserving 

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We preserve blackberries in jam,
trying our best to hold onto the sweet summer taste.
We know it won't last forever,
but we want to keep it as long as possible.

Preserving doesn't allow for change.
Preserving means holding onto what we know we'll have to let go of.
Preserving is control.

We conserve the flowers in the brown dirt,
trying our best to help them bloom.
We know we have the power to kill,
but we choose differently.

Conserving creates change.
Conserving frees the sprouts by stopping cement that suffocates.
Conserving is love.

Because of the way we conserve,
we know what it means to be cared for.
We know how it feels to be tilled, watered, and fed,
but then left alone to be.

And the Earth knows this too.
So it gives us back what we 
give to it.

We conserve it,
and suddenly,
we too are conserved.

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Without You, We Don't Exist

They call it a guild: tree root, plants, insects, all companions to one
another. 

We call it a haven, a secret, a story,  a community
because we've seen the way the sum is more than the parts. 

Naturalists and poets say nothing lives in isolation.
The way the park needs the community,
the worker bees need the queen,
the interns need the soil.

Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you
they all say to one another. 

This is how we make it in the world. 

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