Ellen Kort

“Begin. Keep on beginning. Nibble on everything.Take a hike. Teach yourself to whistle. Lie.The older you get the more they'll want your stories.Make them up. Talk to stones. Short-out electricfences. Swim with the sea turtle into the moon. Learnhow to die. Eat moonshine pie. Drink wild geraniumtea. Run naked in the rain. Everything that happenswill happen and none of us will be safe from it. Pull up anchors. Sit close to the god of night.Lie still in a stream and breathe water. Climb to thetop of the highest tree until you come to the branchwhere the blue heron sleeps. Eat poems for breakfast.Wear them on your forehead. Lick the mountain's bare shoulder. Measure the color of days around your mother's death. Put your hands overyour face and listen to what they tell you.”