This Is How I Heal, a Poem by KB Ballentine

Fingers of pine feather the sky,

juncos hopping in the shadows –

light and dark marbled through cedar

and sycamore. Rhododendrons ferrying

wind into blossoms. Paint Creek bubbles

with color. No pillbox or wry humor

to ease my troubles, just a hike

up Ricker Mountain. A pinch of sun,

the cove ricocheting Spring.

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KB Ballentine’s latest collection is All the Way Through (2024, Sheila-Na-Gig Inc.). She has eight previous poetry collections with Blue Light Press, Iris Press, Middle Creek Publishing, and Celtic Cat Publishing. Published in North Dakota Quarterly, Atlanta Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, and others, her work also appears in anthologies including Women Speak (2024) and The Strategic Poet (2021). Learn more at www.kbballentine.com.