Speak to the Earth

by Cee Monteiro

“You need to quiet the Earth,” she tells me.

“How?” I ask.

“Speak to it. It needs to hear you.

It needs to hear you above all other things.
Things that are just noise.

You are more than noise, and your voice, your voice …
Your cadence eases its pain.

Speak to the earth properly. Do not whisper.
I did not make you timid.

When you speak,
empty your stomach.
Let the sound shake your chords.

I’ve put you into the Earth, and all that I ask
is that you speak to it.

Into it, out of it, above it.

With it.”