NVN Thursday: SPRING EQUINOX

SPRING

by Katy Z. Allen

Paolo De Matteis "Cain and Abel" c. 1690 oil on canvas

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With thoughts of Esther 9:16 and Genesis 4:10

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They disposed of their enemies, killing seventy-five thousand of their foes. 
Skunk cabbage flowers are popping up in wooded wetlands.

In 2023, 2300 people in the US were killed by extreme heat climate events.
Salamanders and frogs are beginning their springtime migration on warm, rainy nights.

As of March, 48,500 men, women, and children are dead in Gaza.
Sap is rising in the sugar maples on warm sunny days.

During the 14-year-long Syrian civil war, 620,000 people were slaughtered.
Golden catkin tassels are blooming on hazelnut trees.

No one is counting how many are murdered around the world by climate change.
Crocuses are bringing color to sheltered spots of urban yards.

Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Red-wing blackbirds are trilling springtime songs from leafless treetops.

Spring and death are here.

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Katy Z. Allen is a lover of the more-than-human world, rabbi of an outdoor congregation, co-founder of a Jewish climate organization, eco-chaplain, and has been writing since the age of eight, including her poetic book A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text from Strong Voices Publishing.

EQUINOX

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley

AI-generated image by Evgeniatretyakova56 via Dreamstime

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Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a Washington, DC naturalist and award-winning author of eight nature books, including Wild Walking—A Guide to Forest Bathing Through the Seasons, City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, and Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island. She has had several previous poems published in the The New Verse News and many poems published by Beate Sigriddaughter’s Writing in a Woman’s Voice, including four that have won “Moon Prizes.” Her poetry has also been featured on nature-oriented websites.