Poems of Persistence, Solidarity, and Refuge – Liza Sparks

We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.  ― Gwendolyn Brooks  

As we journey through political, economic, and global health crises, we turn to poetry to share truths that unearth underlying causes, illuminate impacts, and insist on transformative change. For many of us, today’s challenges are not new. The struggle of isolation, economic insecurity, inadequate medical care, deadly institutionalized negligence, governmental decisions that put Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, disabled, sick, and other structurally precarious people at greater risk are not new. Today, many more people are experiencing the vulnerability of these unrelenting issues. We recognize this opportunity for a heightened awareness of how our very survival depends on one another.

Poetry can help keep the flame of resilience, solidarity, and resistance alive in us. It can help us process and move through grief, anger, loneliness. Poetry can be a comfort when the most necessary actions are to rest and recover. It can remind us of what’s at stake, that our lives and legacy are worth the fight. As cultural workers, we know that culture shapes our political and social imagination at a foundational level. As poets, we can use poetry to map what is, what has been, and possibly, the way forward, including the reasons not to return to what does not honor and protect our lives, our communities, and our planet.

We asked poets to give us the words they chant to get out of bed, to raise their fists, to encourage their kin, to remind us, as this crisis does, that “we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” To read all of these poems, visit Split This Rock’s website.

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There is a Mountain Stream at my Door

By Liza Sparks

the babble and meandering here to remind me

to keep on moving they enter my apartment

they tell me the most important things 

are the living things they water all of my plants

the spider plant I have been neglecting 

mountain stream hugs my cat

apologizes remembering cats

do not like being in water

invites the dogs to take a drink

giggles and laughs in that mountain stream way

all sparkle I want to tell you

says mountain stream about seasons

about cycles about winter about rest

about the cold and the freeze

about life about death

about continuing about my friends

about salmon and stone 

I want to tell you about even the smallest

creatures I want to tell you about clouds

tell you about mirrors and reflections

tell you…remind you to drink water

and also that it is okay to cry

make room

make room

I want to tell you about the leaves that fall 

from the trees dance in the water 

I want to tell you about the roots that feed 

that drink what feeds you what nourishes you 

can you send your roots to those places 

I am here to remind you 

that these are places you have already been 

already known 

mountain stream smiles 

and flows through the house 

strums the guitar 

plucks the strings on the viola 

remember they sing 

that song in your heart 

it is still there 

even in the rain 

mountain stream 

leaves as quickly as they arrived 

babbling all the way down 

the stairs of the apartment 

complex

Split This Rock · Liza Sparks There is a Mountain Stream at my Door Audio

Listen as Liza Sparks reads "There is a Mountain Stream at my Door."