Linger (2022)

I choreographed Linger in collaboration with dancers David Bernal, Kevin Holland, and Samantha Kayombo. The piece features my poem, “Fern.”

“Fern”

I did not know they could

send a fern in a cardboard box.

Could pack the dirt

the delicate wisps

into the darkness,

dispatched roots.

Tear open, pull it out,

the small sprigs, thin like

floss running through teeth,

feathery arms.

You have heard it said benevolence

evidently brings forth

a flourishing,

use speech with your plants of

kindness.

If you murmur death—

death.

Open your mouth, open the

darkness and with

luminosity see

a hummingbird plants herself

in front of your kind eye,

she flutters beyond catching,

she is a small felicity.

For the first time in months,

you laugh.

I did not know they could send a fern in a cardboard box. Could pack the dirt the delicate wisps into the darkness, dispatched roots. Tear open, pull it out, the small sprigs, thin like floss running through teeth, feathery arms.