“Say what is true: you are not just you…”

Marybeth Holleman expresses the bedrock truth that underlies all we say and do, in this excerpt from “In All Things”:

Say what is true: that you are not just you,
you do not exist except within all this—

The grasses tremble with dew’s touch,
and the nuthatch flits among spruce boughs,
and the field mouse basks in the rising sun,
and you are them,
and they are you,
and this is it.

“In All Things” appears in the just-published 2025 issue of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry. Marybeth is one of just two writers whose work has appeared in all seven issues of the journal. Thank you, Marybeth, for sharing your wilderness-inspired wisdom with us!

To learn more about Deep Wild, visit http://www.deepwildjournal.com