STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
ANGIE MINKIN
I’m tired, I told my friend,
tired of the weather, done
with being mired in bad news, drowning
in the world’s sorrows. So much out
of my control. Hiding behind sunglasses,
I plug my ears with headphones
and walk myself to the woods, nearly trotting
as I pass blackened trunks, step over thin shoots
of green, move in and out of shadow. She speaks
and my breath slows. I listen and begin to notice
the exuberance of oxalis and wild radishes,
orange-blown poppy petals, nearly flying
in afternoon wind, life that won’t be denied,
this air sweetened with new growth,
this lupine laden with fat honeybees—
all ignoring me. I unplug my ears,
lose the shades, and pause, as foraged honey
infuses my cells. For one moment, I find grace
in the rasp of a crow, flash of a garter snake,
blue in new grass, the wail of a far-off sax.
Angie Minkin is an award-winning San Francisco-based poet who stands on her head for inspiration. Angie has volunteered as a poetry editor for Vistas & Byways Literary Review. Her work has been published in The MacGuffin, Rattle, The Poeming Pigeon, The Unbroken Journal, and several others. She is a coauthor of Dreams and Blessings: Six Visionary Poets, published in 2020 by Blue Light Press. Her work has been included in Fog and Light, San Francisco through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here and Pandemic Puzzle Poems, also published by Blue Light Press. Her chapbook, Balm for the Living, will be published in 2023 by Finishing Line Press. When not writing, she practices yoga, takes dance classes, and travels to Oaxaca, Mexico, whenever possible. Learn more at www.angieminkin.com.
