my mother & I condense
a lifetime together into weekly
hikes — there are never enough
daylight hours we seek out
wild rapeseed moss-soft fennel
prickly radish leaves that unfurl
to fold up gently: we linger
in languid afternoon light,
traipse from patch to patch
squat to forage in a rush all
that we recognize as humble
nourishment. My mother, eyes
wild with huáijiù, plucks
tender shoots in eager handfuls,
states in a matter-of-fact tone:
It is in our DNA this trauma
the need to store up enough food
to stave off winters men —
cannot and will not ever understand
what we carry inside us. In silence
we walk the path, heads held high
May 7
May 7, 2026 at 7:10 PM UTC
my mother & I condense
a lifetime together into weekly
hikes — there are never enough
daylight hours we seek out
wild rapeseed moss-soft fennel
prickly radish leaves that unfurl
to fold up gently: we linger
in languid afternoon light,
traipse from patch to patch
squat to forage in a rush all
that we recognize as humble
nourishment. My mother, eyes
wild with huáijiù, plucks
tender shoots in eager handfuls,
states in a matter-of-fact tone:
It is in our DNA this trauma
the need to store up enough food
to stave off winters men —
cannot and will not ever understand
what we carry inside us. In silence
we walk the path, heads held high
