Haiku Poetry Awards Finalist - Ren Dirt

Sur Ren Dirt is a queer poet and life & spiritual coach currently living on unceded Tunxis, Wangunk, and Poquonock lands. They are the 2021 recipient of the Maverick Poet Award from The ruth weiss Foundation and are currently working on publishing their first book of poetry. Ren believes that queer joy is revolutionary and that living and loving in a queer body is an act of fierce and tender resistance. Their poem, "deliberate love," sown in late winter and ripened at the summer solstice, tells the story of a genderqueer femme word witch and a fairy king maple farmer as they learn to love each other deliberately.

deliberate love by Ren Dirt

symbiosis of

tuned in and attentive way —

the soil it can build

hot, sexy garden

belly, down in the warm dirt —

fuck up the carrots

harvest time, reap fruits

eating hearty things that stay —

preserve the bounty

healthy forest sap,

the late winter alchemy —

maples have my heart