‘Found Poem’ put together by emcee Laura Daniels and presented at the end of an evening program with presentations from the 12th Gunnison Valley Journal, January 23, 2025

What is our place
in this corner of space?
Apocalypse doesn’t just mean the end of the world, it also presages the birth of a new era. And
that’s where the hope lies.
You can’t think outside the box until you know the box you’re in.
That is my mind
Fashioner of relics
Nurtured by a forested trail, I’ll take care not to harm it,
Grateful for the invitation.
There is nothing that communicates more than an outstretched hand when you are in need.
Families speaking about the wild stuff families speak about:
Will we ever be able to give back what we took?
What people now call Wild, is simply
our indigenous ancestors’ word for Home.

— Lines and words jotted down from presentations by Mike Horn, Ian Wrisley, Cathie Elliott, Joe Bob Merritt, Sandy Fails, Mimi Mather, Polly Oberosler, Leath Tonino, Naomi Treadwell, Marcie Telander