"now there is brown earth under my fingernails"
Who do you want to touch?
Butterfly, Caterpillar, Moth, Insects, and Currants (1650–1655) by Jan van Kessel.
Sowing
by Audre Lorde
It is the sink of the afternoon
the children asleep or weary.
I have finished planting the tomatoes
in this brief sun after four days of rain
now there is brown earth under my fingernails
And sun full on my skin
with my head thick as honey
the tips of my fingers are stinging
from the rich earth
but more so from the lack of your body
I have been to this place before
where blood seething commanded
my fingers fresh from the earth
dream of plowing a furrow
whose name should be you.
from The Selected Works of Audre Lorde, by Audre Lorde, edited by Roxane Gay, W.W. Norton, 2020
Creative Invitation
Get your hands dirty. Touch the ground just to experience its energy and magnetism.
Put your hand on the Earth and feel it feeling you back. Imagine: you can touch anyone on the planet (alive or gone) through this conduit of the Earth. Who would you touch? Who are you touching now? Who is touching you?