Permission Season
Maybe it was the magnolia petals,
scattered like so many pink tongues,
or the way the forsythia stirred
from the woods without apology,
or possibly the weeping cherry
blossoms’ languid plunge—
how their white ripened and browned
like the hem of a wedding dress—
that made me ask, at last, how
I could have perceived this season
as pastel, passive, when its emergence
is a constant becoming—a study
in untidy desire—each opening
a lesson in what it means to live—
scattered like so many pink tongues,
or the way the forsythia stirred
from the woods without apology,
or possibly the weeping cherry
blossoms’ languid plunge—
how their white ripened and browned
like the hem of a wedding dress—
that made me ask, at last, how
I could have perceived this season
as pastel, passive, when its emergence
is a constant becoming—a study
in untidy desire—each opening
a lesson in what it means to live—
Spring 2026
Emily Patterson (she/her) is the author of The Birth of Undoing (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2025), as well as three chapbooks. Her poetry is published or soon to appear in North American Review, SWWIM, Literary Mama, Christian Century, CALYX, The Penn Review, NELLE, and elsewhere. Emily lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio and works as a curriculum designer with Highlights for Children.
Art: Pamela Hobart Carter
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper
While We Listen, 2025
An any-side-up, ink, pastel, and acrylic on (cheap) paper