I used to talk to animals and plants.
I had an imaginary friend: a giraffe named Lulu.
When I went to school and learned science,
they told me to leave Lulu behind,
that the earth couldn’t speak to me.
I studied and read, I took the tests, learned the facts,
and I believed the teachers, until—

I closed my eyes on the mountaintop
and listened to the wind as it brushed
against my hair and skin.
The earth became a symphony of
birdsong and wings flapping amongst the clouds.
Cool mist rolled in and wrapped itself
around my body, singing its own kind
of poetry.

Then I opened my mouth and said hello
to the canyon down below.

The earth called back to me: hello     hello

Eliana Franklin is an emerging poet who studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, with a major in Creative Writing and a minor in Environmental Studies. She made a New Year’s resolution to practice mindfulness every day in 2020–and that has radically changed how she thinks about writing poetry. She has previously been published in Headwaters Creative Arts Journal.