Mother Coyote Explains a Wildlife Crossing

Mother Coyote Explains a Wildlife Crossing

Jessica Whipple

It is new like you are new. Yet,
it is again, and again is open.
It is there like the water is there
and always, like weather.
Because of it, only is gone.
It’s been replaced by over,
which, before this, was
something only mountains gave us.
Yes, there will be lost.
We’ll slink under its fog
until we raise our heads
to see all of where.
And where is worth seeing.
Where is quiet, but
it will awaken
and surge
and you will, too.

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Jessica Whipple
Poet & Writer

Jessica Whipple writes for adults and children. She published two children's picture books in 2023: Enough Is… (Tilbury House, illus. by Nicole Wong) and I Think I Think a Lot (Free Spirit Publishing, illust. by Joseée Bisaillon). Her poetry has been published recently in Funicular, Green Ink Poetry, and Whale Road Review. Her poem "Broken Strings" (appearing in Door Is a Jar) was nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize. She lives in the US and inhabits the places where picture books and poetry intersect....and Twitter, too: @JessicaWhippl17.

Photography by Fabian Jones