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Poet Linda Crate wrote a poem about nature. The poem could have been existing in its own strength and grace. But transparent water colours from Kaushik Saha promised to add another layer of meaning and interpretation. Linda is from Pennsylvania, USA and Kaushik is from Panagarh, India and yet their expressions found a confluence through their appreciation for nature.

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nature is my comfort 

nature has never judged me

for being feral, wild, angry,

wounded, in pain, sad, joyful,

crazy, or anything else i have

ever felt;

she has never asked me to be

less of myself the way people have—

i feel safer beneath a canopy 

of trees surrounded by crow song

than i do around people,

and i feel safer hugged in creek

or ocean song than i do around other humans;

when i can find my peace nature

is usually near—

there’s comfort in flowers, trees, sky, sea,

and earth;

there’s a song in every whirring wing of

honey bee and every flutter of butterfly wings

and every fragrant song of petals 

wafting through the air.

 

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Linda M. Crate‘s works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of ten published chapbooks, four full-lengths, and three micro-chaps. She has a novella, also, called Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022).

Kaushik Saha is an avid art enthusiast who is building a career in Graphic Designing. His hobbies include Theatre, Photography, Painting, Travelling. He hails from Panagarh, Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal.