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i was once an animal small enough to fit in the pinecone
small enough to fit in the evergreen needle
a bluegrey body, a verdant body. i was once so small
i was the entire ocean / the tide-pooled coast / the mountain
and every animal sleeping along its back.
i was the coltsfoot the wakerobin the golden violet—
whole blankets of them, shrouding the lichen—
and i was the columbine, fit right onto the point of each petal,
slept curled under the curve of the dark leaves
where i dreamed i was the moss reaching its arms up to the sky.
i grew without light in my body, rather sipped it
straight in through my leaves, filtered through the crown-shy overstory
& through the darkness of the womb. i was once the color
of a baby bird’s throat backlit and wide, i was once in an egg
and had no name, i was once a dream or a mote or an atom
carried on a bluegreen wave or in the grey grey sky or through a clicked shutter
on a humming machine where my eye shone black on a backlit screen.
i was the fine hair on a raspberry, or perhaps that was my mother & her mother—
fruits that fruited me. when i'd sleep in the full summer sun
i ripened. so small i was sweet, so small i was also the thorn.
i was once an animal dug straight from the sand, wet & wailing.
i was once an animal found cupped in an old tree,
its sap white-laced down its back.