Poetry Spotlight: Rebirth by Cole Goodwin

April is National Poetry Month, which “reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters.”

by Cole Goodwin and Judy Bankman

Welcome to Local Poetry Spotlight, a weekly poetry column dedicated to showcasing the poetry of local writers. At CCCNews we believe in the power of art and creative writing to heal, connect with one another, and build community, and that’s what the Poetry Spotlight is all about.

Meet This Week’s Poet: Cole Goodwin

Pictured: Cole Goodwin pauses to take a photo with their office plants. Their monstera is currently taking over an entire corner in their office.

Cole Goodwin is a nonbinary journalist, business owner, artist, poet, green thumb, community advocate, and outdoor adventurer. Born in Umatilla County, they spent most of their youth in The Dalles, OR running laps around Sorosis Park and swimming at the pocket park. They now live in White Salmon, WA with their partner and their two dogs Sammy and Lily.

 What inspires them to write poetry?
”I’m inspired by life,” said Cole. “There are so many sources of inspiration in life…nature, romance, joy, grief, anger, kindness, and sorrow.”

“You know who else inspires me? Our community, the people in it, and the landscape that holds them,” said Cole.

“I’ve lived here in the Gorge nearly my whole life. And I’ve experienced first hand what kind of happenings tend to shake up our community, what kind of rhetoric brings controversy to the community facebook pages, and what kind of tragedies, causes, and events bring it together. The simultaneously predictable and unpredictable nature of life and the landscape here inspire me to write.”

“And I write to validate my own experiences of living a queer and gender expansive life. I write about queer love to share its beauty and to normalize it. And of course I also write because I long to speak to the hearts of the people who live here,” said Cole.

“But most of all I write because when a poem reaches my heart I can feel how it aches for a chance to be written, to live, to breathe, to be whispered, to be shouted, to be sung, if even for just a moment. And I know that I have it in me to honor that poem and that inspiration’s desire to have a life of it’s own and to be a part of the world.”

Rebirth, a Poem by Cole Goodwin

I am a growing thing.

I am long ago broken ground,
my geyser eyes
my volcanic venting voice
my diamond encrusted coal heart
were constructed over a lifetime of earthquakes,
eruptions, landslides and hurricanes.

But the flowers will return love,
there is lupine in my hair,
balsam root growing in my eyes.
The twisty scrub oak
and the tall proud pine
are just beginning to peek
out of the damaged dirt,
to grow on my hills.

Look just there—
a wild cherry tree has gone to seed.

Squirrels and fawns are
timidly foraging amongst my bones—
they know life is stirring.
Because I am no longer bare and broken rock,
I am a forest that is being reborn.

There is such sweetness in the air!
Such cool refreshment in my soul!
I feel as deep and pure as the water
flowing from the springs of heaven itself.
I have traveled many miles underground to get here love.
Drink of my depths and take in the view.

I have been shaken;
I have been broken.
I have healed. I am healing.
The years have changed the geography of my skin.
My body, is built of scar tissue.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Stay tuned for more poems from local poets! 

If you’d like to submit a poem to the Poetry Spotlight, please fill out this form.