Poems / March 27, 2024

Remembering a honeymoon hike near Drakes Bay, California, while I cook our dinner at the feet of Colorado’s Front Range

Camille T. Dungy

That stretch of coast like the soft spot
in your self, the heart of your self I call
your soul. That feeling that comes there, when fog settles
so truly I know I am walking inside
a cloud. Intangible. Tangible. Both
at once. Sweetheart, I need to tell you something
after we finish, tonight, with this dinner
I’m preparing—rainbow chard wilted in oil
with shallots and pepitas, herb-rubbed chicken
already roasting. Even on these hot days,
far from the cool coast of California, when I’m with you,
I am inside such a cloud. This is how I know
I won’t ever believe in heaven if heaven isn’t right
here, with you. Our sunflowers keep coming back,
year after year after year, since that first year
we drove seeds under our new yard’s soft soil.
That, dear heart, is it. It is the softness I need
to thank you for. I’d be lost without that
part of you that eases up enough to let me in.
Then closes back around me. For years,
on the edge of California’s coast, ship after ship
after European ship sailed past. An inlet
kept safe inside a cloud. Safe the sweet smell
of California buckeye and dusty green sage. Safe
the spineflower, checker lily, blue blossom. Unharmed
the little native bees and yellow-faced bumble bees
who skip from flower to flower. Unharmed
the coast buckwheat, and the fiery skipper
and gossamer-winged butterflies who need buckwheat
to survive. Unharmed the lumbering grizzly.
Unharmed, until thinned fog let ships in, the snakes
and mountain lions too. You’ve lived long enough,
sweetheart. You’ve paid attention to your history.
You know what some people will do if let in
to the part of your self you spent so long protecting.
But you showed me this anchorage. Those soft brown
shoulders. The headlands. Here I am. So much in bloom!
And me, with you, in all this soft wild buzzing.

(This poem originally appeared in You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.)

Can we count on you?

In the coming election, the fate of our democracy and fundamental civil rights are on the ballot. The conservative architects of Project 2025 are scheming to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision across all levels of government if he should win.

We’ve already seen events that fill us with both dread and cautious optimism—throughout it all, The Nation has been a bulwark against misinformation and an advocate for bold, principled perspectives. Our dedicated writers have sat down with Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders for interviews, unpacked the shallow right-wing populist appeals of J.D. Vance, and debated the pathway for a Democratic victory in November.

Stories like these and the one you just read are vital at this critical juncture in our country’s history. Now more than ever, we need clear-eyed and deeply reported independent journalism to make sense of the headlines and sort fact from fiction. Donate today and join our 160-year legacy of speaking truth to power and uplifting the voices of grassroots advocates.

Throughout 2024 and what is likely the defining election of our lifetimes, we need your support to continue publishing the insightful journalism you rely on.

Thank you,
The Editors of The Nation

Camille T. Dungy is the author of the book-length narrative Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden; four collections of poetry, including most recently Trophic Cascade; and the essay collection Guidebook to Relative Strangers. She edited Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry and co-edited From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. Dungy is the current poetry editor for Orion magazine. Dungy’s other honors include the 2021 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts in both prose and poetry. She is a university distinguished professor at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins.

More from The Nation

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Ellipse in Washington, DC.

Against Impossible Double Standards, Harris Aced Her Closing Argument Against Impossible Double Standards, Harris Aced Her Closing Argument

She has another week, and so does Trump. But comparing her excellent Ellipse speech to Trump’s Madison Square Garden satyricon is absurd.

Joan Walsh

Trump addresses a crowd on a large screen in the packed Madison Square Garden.

Trump’s Rally Was a Desecration of Madison Square Garden Trump’s Rally Was a Desecration of Madison Square Garden

Under billionaire James Dolan, the ties between Madison Square Garden and New York City’s working class were already fraying. Then he gave the stadium’s keys to Trump.

Dave Zirin

In the foreground, a

Peering Into the Minds of the Moderate White Women Who Might Just Save Us From Trump Peering Into the Minds of the Moderate White Women Who Might Just Save Us From Trump

Once Kamala Harris became the nominee, a significant number of white women shifted their support to her. Can she close the deal?

Amy Littlefield

Supporters of former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrive for a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024.

My Long, Strange Trip to Madison Square Garden to Meet the Trumpies My Long, Strange Trip to Madison Square Garden to Meet the Trumpies

Trump supporters told me repeatedly that Trump loves them. How can so many people believe this?

Katha Pollitt

Jeff Bezos attends the UFC 306 at Riyadh Season Noche UFC event at Sphere on September 14, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Newspapers That Refuse to Endorse Are Betraying Journalism—and Democracy Newspapers That Refuse to Endorse Are Betraying Journalism—and Democracy

Billionaire publishers who censor endorsements that offend Donald Trump confirm their scorching disregard for the traditions of a free press.

John Nichols

What Is the Plan for Gaza’s Future?

What Is the Plan for Gaza’s Future? What Is the Plan for Gaza’s Future?

Netanyahu’s plan to remain in power doesn’t include peace.

OppArt / Frances Jetter