In loving memory of poet Jordan Gallader 1985-2020
You and I and we flourish in collective possibility
Emboldened
As Jordan stretches, morphs into her sugared web,
Frilly white and lightly patterned
Seeking foothold in the clefts of eager minds
An outsider within, she forms the
heart of the fungus
spreading herself as spores of influence
we become threads in her tapestry
trance formations laced in filaments of deep time
Thriving in the light of
A remembered sun,
We nourish her, and ourselves
Growing in ways that others cannot,
In perfect communion
Choosing photosynthesis over grief
Our green fuse sparkles like crystal
consuming itself in wondrous pinwheels of creativity
we grow together inside and out,
a symbiosis of solar solidarities
Tiny fingers poke and trace our destiny
Hearts and stick figures scatter our fragments Among waiting graves and trees
Our new consciousness spreading slowly now,
We are a lush outgrowth of our former selves
Enduring beyond imagination
Artists and authors Michelle Fairchild and Alex S. Johnson are the inventors of the Haunto-Fiction literary genre and co-creators of LACUNAE: A LITERARY TRIBUTE TO JORDAN GALLADER, to be published by Nocturnicorn Books in 2025.