Issue Two - October 2001

All That Is Holy

By White Bear Woman

The earth does not care whether
we are nourished by her bounty or not,
or whether we notice her or not.
She flowers for herself alone,
bears fruit unto herself alone.
If, in that human loneliness that drops us
down and leaves us kneeling,
we imagine a voice that says,
“Take, eat,
this I give that you might not be hungry,
this I give that you might live,”
and we receive communion
from the mosses and salal,
and we receive communion
from blackberry and the cedar,
and we receive communion
from the salmon and the wild plum,
it is because we’ve finally
come to live
where all that is holy in her
is also inside us.

Copyright 2001 White Bear Woman

White Bear Woman has been writing poetry for most of her life. She has also been a university teacher, a carpenter, a cook on a fishing boat, a kayak guide, a licensed masseuse, a restaurant owner and more. Whatever she does, she doesn't dabble; she plunges all the way in. "I follow my passion and my heart and they've led me through my life," she says. "I haven't stayed on one path because different things have gotten my attention. That's where my poetry comes from --that place." She has had five books of poetry published.

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