This is the first of many blog posts about my recent move to NoDak (North Dakota). Here are some quick facts:
- I moved from Washington State to North Dakota.
- I am still working in higher education, but I landed a job as a marketing content writer.
- It’s cold in ND, but I am finding it doesn’t bug me much (must be my Norwegian and German heritage).
- Moving from my home was one of the most difficult and traumatic things I have ever been through.
- I think I am still suffering from relocation depression (it’s real, Google it).
- I’m not quite ready to blog about my why and all the factors leading up to my move. Maybe I never will be.
- Instead, I wrote a poem.
From the Sea to the Prairie
Inside,
it felt confused—
tumultuous,
like the furious roar of crashing waves.
On the outside,
I am a stone
with two glassy eyes,
quivering from the rumble of the quake below me.
The land shook
and shook
and shook
me from my safe place
on the mossy forest floor near the sea,
where I landed
when God formed the earth.
Now I lay in an open field.
Vulnerable.
A fierce wind blows.
For a moment,
I believe I can get back to my trees.
But I never gain momentum.
Snow falls
and covers me;
As if I never existed.
When it melts,
a dry weed tumbles by.
The sun sets with blood orange.
Stars salt the night sky.
Green pillars of light dance across the horizon.
Splashes of pink precede the morning sun.
Lightning strikes.
Hail overwhelms me.
The clouds above me swirl.
The wind blows
And blows.
And I pray it is strong enough to send me back
to my home
among the trees—
next to the sea.
But,
I am a rock,
on the outside.
Shawnee Randolph 