Soil Poem by katherine ochoa

I have taken you for granted soil! Wasn’t it soil that Sherlock Holmes pointed to and used to correctly deduct where his client had been? Wasn’t it the heartbeat of the Earth that Esperanza managed to hear once she allowed herself to focus away from the moving clouds and onto the stable Earth? Isn’t it your processes and rock formations that we use to study to foresee the future, understand where we were, and where we are going?

I know dear Earth that all too often people lay on you and ignore you to watch fireworks. That’s the way we are sometimes. We relay on what supports us to enjoy a fleeting show that only pollutes the thing that gives us life. And in this effect we ignore that which lays beneath us but that we forever depend on.

I know someone wandered away from home into nature and held themselves because they thought they had no one to cry to. They heaved their sorrows thinking no one could listen. But you heard it didn’t you? In the clearing where there was only trees, sky, and Earth you heard the cries and grabbed the tears that slid from human cheek to Earth. You used the water to spring forth new life. And doesn’t everyone come crying to you? The animals? The clouds? All need a stable Earth.

I know an angry teenager probably beat you with their fists once. I know I did. It wasn’t personal but I thank you for taking the hit. Don’t we always throw frustrations out on you? For quick release of tension we hide behind your bushes and pee. We use every place imaginable to mate – behind rocks, bushes, trees, and waterfalls, and the homes we call shelters.

I’m sorry I grew up to think that I was too good for you. I used to play in the trees and go to the bathroom the “natural” way. But something changed when I transitioned from farm girl to city girl. I began to think I didn’t need you anymore. What happened to sitting by my grandfather’s side at midnight and making meals from the birds we hunted by the crackling of the fires we made? Or the years spent outside in sunshine running in the dirt and mud and not giving a damn? Or the narrow trails I used to wander into barefoot feeling the sentiments between my toes and hoping for a snake? Hoping for some danger, and excitement I happily invited what you could show me. Being around you made me ready to run at the sight of adventure.

Without you around I feel the dread of city life despite all its excitement, I’m afraid we’re the ones missing out. Instead of going out we voluntary lock ourselves inside and look for life in the mindless screens of our technology. We obsess and stare at the screens hoping it will give us answers, and provide us a pretty superficial image of ourselves. But you wouldn’t lie. We’re dirty and clean all at once. The Earth is more us than we will ever be. And eventually no matter how hard we try to avoid it, we will be joined.

I was reminded of this fact when I was wandering in the woods in my suburban neighborhood and found train tracks that cut between the rows of trees. The rails were rusting but the flowers were growing despite the obstacles. I caught a glance of something grey and saw a dead dog that you were decomposing. Normally death looks too gruesome to look at but you made it look so seamless it was hard to look away. Isn’t it funny? When you walk with purpose in the city you’re going nowhere but when you wander in nature with no purpose you find meaning.

Everywhere you step someone lived and someone died. Today that person living is you. And on that day I was glad to be alive.

Sometimes I wonder if a kid won’t one day be skipping on my ashes. Somehow the idea makes me smile.

What I wonder from all this though is why we keep looking up when everything we need is right here? If it’s true that there are more grains of sand on Earth than there are stars in the universe, why do we take for granted that we have more? Worse still we treat you like you belong to us, when really we belong to you.