Practicing
Jenny Bates
your touch a single raindrop
on my skin
I make into a watering
hole for
tongues of Lion
sips of Frog
herds of Elephant
to wallow in
full of dung and green and
Lungfish mud
my feet not quite feet
on the ground
my hands not quite hands
leaden and earthbound
I practice the sound
that covering sound
as I surface afresh
echoing intake hush
the rush of my first breath.Â
Jenny Bates, seven poetry books, published in numerous NC and international journals. Presented at the 2023 Ecopoetics and Environmental Aesthetics Conference, London. Jenny was a judge for the Poetry in Plain Sight contest through the NC Poetry Society, 2024. Â Her book of poems, ESSENTIAL, Redhawk Publications 2023 has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2024. Her newest collection, From Soil and Soul is available through Redhawk Publications.