Wake up
Wake up now
It is time
to remember the vision
I gave you long ago:
feel me
running fast and free
nose to the ground
singing loud and clear
over old brittle bones
of past lives and past lovers;
a howling
wild scented freedom
and ripeness of being
calling you home.
Look up
Look up now
See your yearning
for what it is,
an ember of salvation;
come to the woods
so I may dance for you
slow and steady,
weave your dreams
with mysteries and magic,
soft fur, sweet berries, rain scented sleep,
tiny tracks barely visible beneath snow,
as I wait and anticipate
your earth kisses like smoke on the wind at dawn.
Breathe deeply
Breathe deeply now
Do not be afraid
of my dark places
of my many, many faces
sylph, sprite, silver birch spirit,
the wife, the witch, the wild woman
the good girl turned feral over time.
Remember how to be with me
on me, of me, in me,
and I will no longer
swallow you whole.
Instead I will remind you
of your original instructions
as keeper and lover of my ancient earth.
I will give you
my mountain river eyes
for when you awaken
naked and breathless under the new moon;
musky autumn leaves
my lips for your softening,
when life is too full otherwise;
my wildfire breasts
for your soul
when it needs set on fire;
and my belly, that emerald green sleepy hollow
soon to be your favourite place of all,
secret storage for your laughter and life as yet unspoken.
Come now
and hurry,
It is time.
Argyll & Bute, Scotland, 2012
Sing to the Moon
San Diego, California, 2019
Hot sun, hazy sky
sheets of green lift and curl before breaking
the water, delightfully warm for December.
I taste salt through the soles of my feet
My ancient ocean self unfurls and breathes deep.
Do the godwits sing to the moon?
Do the grains of sand sing to one another
when the last human footsteps are finally gone?
Every part of me yearns to be a part of that singing.
Amanda Cruise
Amanda Cruise is a writer and artist born and raised in Rome, Italy. She’s recently put down roots on the Mendocino coast and deeply loves its medicine and magic. Her work to date includes photography, painting, land art, printing, poetry, prose and memoir. Her creative path, like her life, continues to be curiously non-linear, with sacred wild spaces inner and outer a through line of inspiration and refuge, and her art making an antidote to our times. She’s won a few awards over the years and has pieces in private collections in Switzerland, Scotland, Italy and the US.
Current projects include a memoir about her journey with her son, working title The Luka Project, and Wild Soul Mendocino, an evolving multimedia love letter to the coast. While she figures out how on earth to herd her work into one website you can find her @wildishwoman and @wildsoulmendocino on Instagram.