Cindy Buchanan

Faith and Science

You could say it was a coincidence.
A few days after I placed my hand on the warm
smooth branch of a Baja torote tree,
closed my eyes and sent my pulse down
its trunk and roots, underground
from desert seedling to desert seedling,
then across the enzymatic fingers of furred fungi
to wild blue lupine beside mountain lakes,
to shivering sugar pines in dense forests
to where I imagine my daughter lives,
my heart-waves surging so that she might feel
a sudden warmth enfold her, she called
to tell me nothing and everything
I needed, at that moment, to hear.

Cindy Buchanan was raised in Alaska, has a B.A. in English from Gonzaga University, and was a preschool teacher until she retired. She studies poetry at Hugo House in Seattle, Washington where she currently lives, and is a member of two monthly poetry groups. She is an avid runner and hiker and enjoys every opportunity to be outdoors. Her work has been published in The Inflectionist Review, Chestnut Review, Evening Street Review, The MacGuffin, Hole in the Head Review, and other journals. Her first chapbook, Learning to Breathe (Finishing Line Press), will be published in 2023. Find her at cindybuchanan.com