Footprints, Bobcat, Fresh Snow

I visit these woods,
stranger to a foreign land
of conifers (juniper
and pine)

the currants, manzanita,
snowbrush and boulders
holding to the earth

and being held
one and the same
this network
of connections

of tracks I follow
in snow to let go,
to never step too far with,

I only want to be close to
breath in the cold,
the stillness, aloneness

of how the animal chooses
its range of solitude

I want to be a part of

keeping the distance,

holding wildness close.

Lynne Goldsmith is an award-winning poet who has been published in All-Creatures.Org, Interalia Magazine, Journal for Critical Animal Studies, Not Very Quiet, Plants & Poetry Journal, Red Planet Magazine, Spillway, Thimble Literary Magazine, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and elsewhere. Her first book, Secondary Cicatrices, won the 2018 Halcyon Poetry Prize and was a 2019 Finalist in the American Book Fest Awards, a 2020 Human Relations Indie Book Award Gold Winner, a 2020 International Book Award Finalist, a 2021 Book Excellence Award Finalist, and a 2021 Distinguished Favorite in the Independent Press Awards.